the man inside the man

My brain has this tendency to "overheat" like a laptop does when it tries to do too many things at once, and then after that have huge difficulty in falling asleep..so let me humour you (whoever still reads my blog) with random thoughts i had in church last week....

I was seated at the mommy/baby's room, and really it wasn't my first time sitting in that area, but perhaps my first time sitting at the very last row, and looking at the many dads and mums in that area, dads specifically made me think about how what one finds attractive in a boy/man evolves over time (hopefully you will figure out why at the end of this post, but if you don't its OK too)

In Kindergarten

You really should just be learning your ABCs rather than falling for boys, but I guess times have changed, and if you feel attracted to a boy, it might be because he has mastered the ABCs and can say them both ways (wrote this, and realize how nerdy it sounds)..let me try again, girls between age 4-6 fall for guys because of how cute they are and how much baby fat they still have on their chubby cheeks? (I have met very charming 3 year olds of late, so maybe, girls would fall for that too)

In Primary School

In most Chinese primary schools, boys wear shorts to school, haha...so maybe you might fall for them because of how hairy their legs are (depends on whether you like hairless/hairy man of course) but really they aren't really fully grown man at this stage....trying to recall what I found attractive about boys in primary and all i can recall is how all the girls really just liked one particular guy, and i think its because he was good looking...

In Secondary School

I believe its called the COOL factor, these were the guys that walked under the rain, as how some of my friends used to term it in high school...I guess the whole combo of cool, popular and smart (this is a bonus) did it in highschool

Pre U/Uni

Good looks becomes less important here (i think), brain power (more?), financial standing (to a certain extent), religion/faith (this one probably exist from secondary school onwards), common interest, personality/character, ....

Post Formal Education Phase

You value the less tangible/visible things, honesty, the weight of his words, how he treats/associates with members of the opposite sex, mannerisms, humility, how he acts around children, how he reacts in times of hardship, i was going to say how cute he looks when he is carrying the baby bag in one hand, his wife's handbag in the other, and pushing a pram at the same time (But this man would be married, and you really shouldn't be attracted to him, but you get what i mean), how trustworthy he is, his willingness to provide, his spiritual health, ...and many many MANY things, that you found attractive in a man growing up seem so insignificant, irrelevant for lack of a better word

This is also when you come to a realization that these are the qualities in a man that are the hardest to find...how invisible these characteristics can be to the human eye, and how much time must be invested to truly discover the man inside the man