When I think of a man's emotions I think of strength and logic. When we are afraid they are strong..when we are overly emotional they are more logical. As a woman I can say with honesty that sometimes I lack these awesome traits when I could really use them. I'm not saying am a crying scaredy cat, or that I can't take care of myself, but it's really nice to be able to allow Kendrick to take care of me sometimes when I feel weak. In paying him this tribute though, I have to be honest and say that sometimes a man's quirks can contradict those very traits..and the result is humorous and baffling.
Kendrick doesn't like to read unless it's a magazine. For some reason you can put any magazine or catalogue in front of him and he will study it with the concentration of a person working on their PhD. Whether its military surplus or orthopaedic shoes it will hold his interest in a way a book never would. Perhaps it's the pictures? Perhaps he doesn't want to commit himself to a whole book when the only time he wants to read is when he's in the bathroom? Now here's the contradiction. He loves when I read to him! He turns into a child once bedtime hits and I pull out our current book. His eyes get big, he gasps, his attention is rapt, he's mentally living the pages of the book I am reading to him. When I try to close the book he begs for more..and sometimes I even see a pout. But how quickly he can shift back into "man mode" when needed. The other night when I was reading it sounded like someone was in our house and he leaps out of bed with the grace of a ballerina and in one smooth move gets his gun and starts combing the house for a murderer...naked. That's right, naked. Either the murderer will run because of the gun or fall down laughing at the tough guy who's naked with a gun. Either way, effective? Two seconds later, back into bed and his attention is right back on Harry Potter and his current dilemma.
He would be downright embarrased if any of his fellow police officers found out that I have read the whole Little House series to him, or that he gets choked up when someone dies in a book...but for a few hours, I get to see this side of him. Then he scratches himself or farts just to let me know he's not too much of a wuss.
