The REAL Difference Between Men & Women

For years I've wondered about the things that interest men--Home Depot and engines, guns, 59 different hammers and spending hours listening to the difference between different types of stereo cables. How can the sexes really be so entirely incomprehensible to each other?

Yesterday, I think I figured out the answer:

The Crayola box of 64 crayons WITH the built-in sharpener.

The 64 box was a very big thing at our house--for one thing, I don't think we were allowed to have it until second or third grade. I've never known if this was about learning the primary colors, sensory overload, or just to give us something to look forward to, but whatever the reason, the box of 64 was IT. I remember the year I was allowed to have the 48 box--not quite as good, but still a MAJOR step as this box contained silver and gold, and I was initiated into the world of metallics. But the 64 box...that was when all the colors in the world were poised in front of me with those perfect crayon points and that lovely smell of wax.

Later in life, I would enter a paint store and realize that my knowledge of 64 colors was, indeed, very VERY limited--especially since paint stores have concocted more than 64 shades of white alone--but at least I had 64 colors.

Yesterday Andy and I were discussing this wall in our house:


While I would call it a "plum" color, one could make the case for purple, maroon, dark pink, or even some sort of berry. But for Andy, this is part of the "dark red" category. Just as our living room is "brown" (picked acorn), the halls are "light brown" (mushroom upstairs and nutmeg downstairs), I think men are stuck at the box of 24 crayons their entire lives. Maybe from there they branch off & start learning what one really does with 32 different types of hammers...

Maybe I'll give Andy the 64 box for Valentine's Day......