“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!”
-Jane Austen
Oh my. Poor Jane. I feel so sorry for her, writing these romantic books, setting herself up for trouble. What 18 or 19th century man could hope to live up to her unrealistic expectations. I wonder where she was looking, and what exactly was she looking for?
When I was a teen, I made a list of the characteristics and qualities that I thought were important in a husband. I wrote them down in my diary around the time I was fourteen, and promptly forgot them.
I didn’t have the diary for a few years, and when I got it back, it was a decade later, and I was married with two children. I remember finding that section and being stunned to be reading a very precise description of my husand.
Completely unconsciously I’d sought and found what I’d looked for. And here we are, years later, still happily married, and all those qualities that I valued, prove of even greater value as the years go by.
Poor Jane.
Shawn L. Bird 