The Old Maid

Just as a bit of free publicity, the picture is by an artist named Justin Hillgrove, whose work I quite enjoy. It's interesting. I love the little stone cats, btw, much as she does, no shedding. It's called 'The Old Maid'.

It reminded me that I love Greek mythology, well any mythology, I'm a writer, I love a good story. In particular the stories that being too pretty or being too good at something would anger a god enough to have them come and do something about you. Arachne, I'm pointing at you. Now, Medusa maybe not so much. She kind of got the short end of the stick when you look at it -raped in a temple, gods don't believe you...turned into a horrific creature meant to be alone. Probably too pretty, but that is neither here nor there on that one, unless you want to cut off your nose to spite your face. I kind of figured it would be better to speculate on someone else's lonely fate, rather than contemplate my own, which was weighing on me ever so slightly today. Not that I would mind a little deity intervention, if one were availible for that sort of thing. Sometimes, I think snake hair would be a little easier to take care of.

Really, it was caused by a very funny joke that I recieved in a letter from my 92 yr old grandmother today. I had told her over the phone about the break-up last month, which she briefly lamented as she never got to meet him at all. She who has experience in this kind of thing, having had a husband for 44 yrs and outliving him by 23 yrs at this point, had some good things to say. And the joke goes like this....What is the difference between a rooster, Uncle Sam, and an old maid?...Give up? A rooster says, "Cockadoodledo." Uncle Sam says, "Yankee-doodle-do!" and an old maid says, "Any dude'll do."

Honestly, I have laughed and laughed about it. It is a great joke. And perhaps, if I were an old maid, I might have this very wide open criteria for a companion. However, it is safe to say, I do not. I have cut back a lot on my ever so high standards of youth, but I still have a few. So, in the interest of honing them properly, here they are. 1). You must love me. 2). You should have some kind of job (this is not for money, it's because it shows you have some kind of drive, a passion in your life, or a knowledge of responsiblitiy to others). 3). Basic hygenie. 

Yep, that is the list. It's not a long one, everything else can be worked on, developed, accepted, or over looked. Notice I did not say 'changed' as I am a firm believer that trying to change someone in a relationship is kind of ridiculous and leads to more frustration than is ever needed for both parties. I work a lot on my own physical appearance, but I think everyone does and yeah, there should be attraction. I don't ask for passion --it's icky like asking for money. One of those back-of-your-mind things that we like getting when it's there, but hate getting on our knees for, right? So, still petting my stone cats and combing my snake hair, waiting around, I guess.