The Burden of Sexual Attraction

It is well known that in the bird world males are the flamboyant, colorful characters, sporting bright plumage and singing about their assets to attract the less conspicuous females. I envy those lucky chicks who can hide in the foliage, quietly watching and judging all the song-and-dance routines before making their choice for this season’s nest-mate.


In the human world, we gals don’t have it as easy.  Sexual attraction is our burden, much to the delight and profit of world’s fashion, cosmetic, and perfume industries.  It’s even worse since medical technology joined the party.  If we are no longer satisfied with the effects of putting paints, dyes, bleaches, lotions, and chemicals on our bodies, we have more options; we can enhance our bodies with “cosmetic” procedures, many of them surgical, some of them dangerous.  The list of what women can do — and are really implored to do — to appear sexually attractive is quite long, starting with a little lipstick and ending god-knows-where in the realm of breast augmentation, facelifts, and tummy tucks.  A chirpy song-and-dance routine seems simple by comparison.
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When Blogging is Not Important

April passed in a blur and I only made one blog entry. I had good intentions. First, I was going to write about the tree sperm that descends in a yellow dust storm every spring. I had just discovered that it has health benefits and wanted to share this knowledge (as my nose ran and eyes teared). But then I got too busy with my mom’s trip to NY to celebrate her 90th birthday. I am her primary care-giver and nothing is easy at her age. I was happy to help. She had a wonderful time at her party.

Next, I wanted to elaborate on a recent Facebook post and write about the challenges that working at home poses for an extrovert like me. Judging by the FB comments, there are valid (and comical) opinions both sides. But, this fell in priority when she became ill; coordinating her health care and our return flight was all-consuming. Just when I thought life might return to normal, she went into respiratory failure and was rushed to the hospital.
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