One Woman, One Opinion: Let’S Talk About Everything!

© Copyright 2010 Linda Pascale-Wright.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

isbn: 978-1-4269-6949-2 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4269-6950-8 (hc)

isbn: 978-1-4269-7026-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011912352

Trafford rev. 07/16/2011

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Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to the greatest people I know in my life who stood behind me and encouraged me to write this.

To My Husband, Bryan Wright: I love you honey and thanks for putting up with all the things I put you through. Thanks for being there and standing beside me throughout our life together.

To My Beautiful Children: Jennifer Acquafredda, Brian Acquafredda, Diana Acquafredda, Adam Wright..They were and always have been my greatest source of inspiration. Your excitement and encouragement the whole time I wrote this made me feel like I could do anything. I am a very lucky Mother and I feel privileged calling you my kids. I love you all very much!

To my Best Friend Dawn: Who I thought of the entire time I wrote the chapter on Friendship. We have known each other for over 20 years and have been though a lot together. Thank you for it was this attitude that has kept us friends for many years and I am looking forward to many more years to come and the crazy things and situations we get ourselves into. Thanks for the laughs!

Thank you to the people at Trafford Publishing: For their guidance and knowledge they gave me throughout this process of writing my first book. They were all wonderful people to deal with and I am looking forward to hopefully working together again in the future.

Introduction

Hello everybody! Oh my God, I sound like Grover from Sesame Street… My name is Linda and I am not here to tell you that I am an expert on any subject. That is not what this book is about. It is however, a book about many things in general and one Woman’s opinion…mine!

I know everyone has their own opinions on things and I am sure a lot of people will also let me know theirs after reading this. That’s ok. I am not a Doctor or a Specialist. I am just the average –Joe off the street (or Josie in my case) and when certain things bother me or intrigue me, I usually say something as I am sure most of you do.

This book is not all about problems in the world or depressing things like that…to much going on today. What I would like to do is talk to you, through this book, like I am a friend. Plain and simple every day opinions. In my life, I like to talk to people and find out what they are all about. What makes them tick and think the way they do and what made them the way they are today?

No, this is not to preach or push my opinions on anyone… Not a book about who is right and who is wrong or to downgrade. This is just one woman’s opinion! Hopefully you will read it and enjoy how I see things. Making you smile or laugh at something we may have in common would just be a plus. My hope is this book will be different from anything you have ever read so far.

I love to read and I have read books that make me say I can relate to that or I know that feeling or Been there…done that! These are the only comparisons I am looking for. Even if you can’t say any of these things, that’s ok. I am not out for a goal. I have always liked a book that makes you feel the person is talking right to you. Not using words I have to run back and forth to the Dictionary for every time I turn a page. I do not enjoy losing weight just to read! It is, after all, suppose to be relaxing.

I would hope you can turn to this book anytime you think no one else thinks like you. No-one else understands you. If you ever need it…my opinion is here…just don’t forget where you put this.

Now that I have your attention…let’s begin shall we!? Did I just sound like every awful grade school teacher you have ever had or what? Please sit back, get comfortable and enjoy!

Let’s start at the beginning…..

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

1. Men

2. Children

3. Family

4. Friends

5. Challenges

6. Obstacles in Life

7. Marriage

8. Cancer

9. Religion and my friend..God!

10. Seeing your kids…getting ready to leave!!

11. Future Events and Life Dreams

12. Rocking Chairs

13. Love

14. Heart-Break

15. Memories (Holidays and Beyond)

16. Childhood

17. Finding Strength

18. Women

1.

Men

Since the beginning of time with Adam and Eve and the Knights and Shining Armor and all the heroes in-between…there was…MAN!

Let’s face it…there are a lot of good men out there who started some wonderful things happening down the line and throughout history. George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. Those are the men that made a difference…BUT… if you noticed out of all those men I just mentioned, there was one thing they all had in common…a WOMAN!

They were all married! I am not saying all your heroes in history or even today need to be married or are married. In reality, let’s face it though, most were.

In my opinion, women’s biggest complaint about men, are their inability to realize…when they have screwed up! That is why, men’s biggest complaint about women, is that we are to complex and that we are hard to figure out! What do women really want? Like in the movie with Mel Gibson. I am here to help guys!

This is a big secret handed down from generation to generation of women in the past up until now BUT if it will help, I am willing to let the secret out of the bag…you ready? We just want to be listened to when we say something and the first time we say it! Surprised right? Not as complicated as you probably thought it was going to be. Let’s face facts men (and I know a lot of you guys out there will disagree but it’s ok) your species is not easy to get along with either and believe it or not (another secret) women have the same trouble trying to figure out what you are all about when you think she is being difficult! We are not trying to be difficult…we usually don’t know what the heck your talking about??

For example: The man that gets involved with one woman…an exclusive relationship I believe they call it. Sometimes you guys meet through a friend or today especially dating services are very popular or find each other in a bar scene. However it may occur…you were looking! Why you were looking may be for many reasons and some a family book like mine cannot cover but (cough) (blush), anyway let’s say you are the type of guy that is looking for the right one. To me this right-one means you are not embarrassed to introduce her to your buds and could possibly be the one you actually want to bring home to meet Mom! Then there are the other types of men who are not interested in marriage, kids the whole nine yards. That is fair enough and hopefully these kind of men will let you ladies know right off the bat that will not be happening if you stay with them.

What I cannot understand and never will are the men that say that they are looking for the one but the only part of exclusive relationship your not getting is…the ONE -WOMAN part for the rest of your lives! That for some reason does not seem to sink into to some. If your going to go through all the trouble of dating and proposing and wedding plans and finding the right apartment or house and the kids coming along and learning your partner so well inside and out, her likes and dislikes, having that person to come home to every night and possibly thinking there is no one else I can think of in this big beautiful world who could ever take her place in your heart or who you would want or even consider spending the rest of your life with through good, bad, richer, poorer…then why CHEAT?

What could possibly be the reason? I am a curious person by nature so I really need to know that answer? What is it? Different kind of sex? So change positions with your wife, hang from a chandelier, buy a trampoline for your bedroom or a water bed! Whatever it takes …sex can only stay interesting with that one person if you both put an effort into it! You know what though…that’s all it is…sex! It is good for that 30 seconds or maybe a 24 hour marathon for all you studs out there, but at the end of the day…don’t you want more?

I thought that is why you waited so long to propose to that special lady in your life? If you got through your fear of commitment enough to ask her to marry you…why screw it up? Think about it…sex is not all that important in the long haul. It is important in any close, loving relationship but eventually that part of you (and maybe not all men and women) but eventually that part of you won’t want to be bothered. You can also find yourself sitting on a porch one day in your rocking chair and cane with nothing but a full bottle of Viagra, thinking to yourself If I take even one of these, my damn heart will stop or explode… so what good did it do you? Medical science and scientists have come such a long way in anything that ails you but do scientists ever really stop to think about the people who take Viagra? Do they ever really stop and think about the women and men that really don’t want to know or care how long that thing can stay up or even get up after a certain age? What makes them think at certain ages (you pick the age) men or women even want to see each other…with or without the lights on?? No, really think about it now folks. We can’t all be Hugh Hefner’s in this world…and if we could…would we want to be… past a certain age? Sounds great in theory but let’s be honest with each other…gravity may have some play in that role after awhile. It may not be pretty for either party involved…I know I’m afraid! The point is sex is just sex! It may not always be greener on the other side.

Ok to be fair…we then have the men that are too good to be true (usually they are). In fairness some men just love to dote on their better half and their families. I haven’t met too many but my Husband is one of those kind of men and he is as manly as they come. So I do know they exist, ladies. They are the ones that clean and do laundry (not necessarily in the same day…but eventually) they cook, change diapers. Then there are the types… ready ladies… that do WINDOWS! Yes, these men do exist and they do all these things very well. These are also the type of men you would seriously think about introducing to your Mom (as your date…not your Mom’s).

So let’s break it down, the type of men out there in this crazy world of ours! You have Smooth Talkers, Suave Men (the type that make you turn your head more then once as he is walking by) Preppie Men, Sophisticated Men, Scholarly Men, Blue Collar Men, (my personal favorite), White Collar Men, Men that Judge, Men that set themselves up to be judged, wimpy Men (that most Women have to defend) BUT out of all the types of men there are in the world ( I can only speak for myself) in this woman’s opinion…Thank God for them! Guys you are not the only one who thinks of the theory Can’t live with them, Can’t live without them! No matter what the reason may be that a woman may want you around, you do provide so many things for us.

Financially, usually a woman’s biggest concern (especially if children are involved) but in today’s world there are to many woman out there that can do for themselves and sometimes makes more then the man but to some women that paycheck means security to her and her family.

You provide entertainment for us when you are caught off-guard for getting in trouble for something we thought about that may have happened 10 years ago? We (meaning women) all have our mind rolodex we refer to when needed. We cannot only tell you what you did wrong ten years ago, we can tell you the date, the time, the weather that day and what you were wearing! If we really start to think, you may be in trouble before you even open your eyes in the morning! You deal with our raging hormones either through child bearing years or menopause. To be fair: have you noticed everything that women go through that drives us nuts and you reap the repercussions from usually starts with men?

If you didn’t want to deal with all the repercussions from all the things women deal with, in my opinion, all men should get together and have a discussion with him or them (whoever named these things) and ask them why would you want to put the word men in front of something or anything that puts a woman over the edge once in a lifetime or five to ten years or once a month? Why Man Why?

Someone left the door wide open guys for all of you to take the fall! I do not care personally what the Medical term for such things are. All I know is I am a woman and I have many woman friends and we all basically agree…all the things we go through has the word men in it. That’s not my opinion guys…it’s a medical fact! Really, look it up!

Men-apause, Men-struation, Men-tal break-down (which can really work both ways men or women) let’s break this down.

Men..apause or mean-a-pause, as I like to refer to it…attached to this lovely word we have… night sweats, mood swings, hot flashes that come out of no where…to many to list!

Men-struation…as any Mom tries to tell her young daughter getting her friend for the first time…without this honey you cannot become a Mommy yourself one day! Really? You may want to wait to celebrate on that Mom until your kid is actually not doubled over with cramps and can understand what you are trying to say. Is that anything like Have a happy period? Also, I don’t know about you ladies but I really do not see to many Mother’s and Daughter’s running on the beach talking about freshness do you? Proven fact…commercials done by men. Anyway, (ahem) getting back to the subject, with this wonderful experience of Menstruation you get headaches, swelling, bloating, cramps, back-aches, mood swings and hemorrhaging for at least 5 to 6 days and usually at one point or the other the Exorcist will arise to greet you!

As many men have said and they should really take stock in this advice and as far as I know it goes back to ancient times: If something bleeds for 5 days and does not die…you should be worried and very afraid!! There is the last word that starts with men…Men…tally Insane! Say no more!!

Men, this is really our simple way of getting back at (whoever invented these words) through you, to try to make up for all the times in your life you will piss us off and try to get out of trouble when you dare to ask: Is it that time of the month? Brave, brave souls you are. Remember one thing men…sometimes you don’t need help getting in trouble with us. Sometimes ( believe it or not)…it really is… just you! If you have ever done any of these things, then basically you have an idea of where I am going here:

Being late for a date? Forgetting a Birthday? Sleeping through half the time your wife goes through Labor? Spending your paycheck on the horses? Being late for dinner that she has spent 3 hours making and not calling to tell her why? Forgetting your Anniversary? Staying out late with the boys and not letting her know you are alive and her reply most likely will always be Well you won’t be when you get home so please enjoy yourself tonight! Falling asleep on her when she is trying to talk to you about something on her mind? Taking a second look at that blonde that just walked by and then insulting her intelligence by saying: It was that car I was checking out…it’s a rare model… really? Was the car wearing Daisy Duke shorts to? That is the respond you will get on that fellows…so please…for your sake, don’t go there.

Men will evolve. Some men will try to change their wives, girlfriends, lovers. In the long run ladies…men will always be…men! Let’s face it all you women out there: it wouldn’t be