Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Is Jason Mraz a real man?

Every time Jason Mraz's song, "I Won't Give Up" comes on I want to cry.  It's one of the songs that I put in a collection and sent to him three days before the end of our marriage.  I meant it.

When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
Well, there's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?

Well, I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find

'Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No, I won't give up

I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make
Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use
The tools and gifts we got, yeah, we got a lot at stake
And in the end, you're still my friend at least we did intend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I've got, and what I'm not, and who I am

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up, still looking up.

Well, I won't give up on us (no I'm not giving up)
God knows I'm tough enough (I am tough, I am loved)
We've got a lot to learn (we're alive, we are loved)
God knows we're worth it (and we're worth it)

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

I sent him the lyrics with several other songs of a similar vein while homeward bound from Hawaii.  When he picked me up from the airport I was prepared for our meeting.  I had thought and thought about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it.  My time away had not been easy for us.  There was a tremendous amount of tension over the phone.  He had avoided me nearly every day.  I got off the plane and got in the car and then asked him to pull over so I could talk to him before we drove home.  In short, I held his hands and tried to look into his eyes and tell him just how much faith I had in us still.  That I had enough love for the two of us if he could just trust in us enough to figure it out. 
Then just ten minutes later we were in a fight because he said that I hadn't called him enough while I was gone.  I argued back that he was the one who hadn't wanted to talk to me.  He kept not calling me back, saying he had work to do or was going to bed (lies that I later discovered when I compared his story with the Verizon record for the first time.  Then as was often our pattern, I stopped arguing.   Empathetically tried to recognize the feelings he was expressing, apologized for arguing and any pain he was feeling that was connected to me and asked if we could please start fresh.  Why does it seem like it was always me to apologize?
Anyhow, my intention tonight wasn't to relive that night, but to post this song.  I wanted this so badly.  I want this so badly.  A man that is emotionally intimate enough to think about the relationship and do the work.  And I'm not certain that such a thing even exists.  Are there men like this?  This singer must at some level understand this or how could he have written such a song.  But perhaps it only exists in music?  Perhaps the singers who write these songs are actually self-obsessed emotional flirts who can talk the talk but not walk the walk.  Wouldn't be surprising, even if depressing.  I want evidence that there are men who would feel this way about a marriage.  Are there men who are willing to read all those relationship books?  To actively work on intimacy issues?  Right now, knowing that the exist would be enough for me.  

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