Lesson 10: Hurry Up, Slow Down.

I'm not a boy. I'm not a man. But as a female, I constantly wonder why men act the way they do. Today I was listening to some of my coworkers talk about their sons and their conversation gave me a little bit of insight on the age old questions about the differences between males and females.

It all started at work when my coworkers and I were delegating responsibilities to a couple of 12-year old boys who insisted on running all over the school building. One of the women, the mother of a 4 year old boy, asked, "What is it about boys and running? My little one runs all over the place. Do they ever slow down?" Another co-worker, the mother of a 13-year old son said, "They eventually slow down after you tell them to practice walking over and over again...but I recently had my son decide he had to prove he had to hurdle over the couch. When I asked him why he did that, he said he just had to see if he could. And once he reached a certain height, he had to prove that he could reach the doorposts in the house." Another coworker, the mother of two elementary school aged girls said, "But why is it that girls take their time and you have to push them out the door in the morning sometimes?"

On the outside I was laughing at these anecdotes, but on the inside, I started to think about how this all applies to us when we get older. There are some things that men just want to get done while women want to get them done well, which obviously takes more patience. Need proof? Check out the way that men clean and compare it to the way that women clean. Which of the two care about whether or not the window cleaner is lavender scented?

Then I started thinking about it biologically. Women and men are obviously built differently with different parts to fulfill different needs. A man's climax can be finished in a snap while a woman takes more time. A man showers, shaves and gets dressed in 30 minutes. A woman takes a while longer to shower, shave, put on makeup, accessorize. And perhaps in the biggest difference of all, a woman can spend hours in labor while the man...sits in the waiting room.

So, the lesson of the day is...women and men are different because they're build differently. Men are always in a hurry because they need to make it to the finish line to survive. Women, on the other hand, take their time because they pay attention to detail along the way.