A Poem, by Minnie Lou Haskins

i said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

give me a light that i may tread safely into the unknown.

and he replied:

step out into the darkness

and put your hand into the hand of God.

that shall be to you better than a light

and safer than a known way.

Deal Breakers...

1. Did your man ask you on a date over a text message? That's a deal-breaker, ladies.
2. If you have to figure out your man's life for him on Date #1, that's a deal-breaker.
3. Deal-Breaker: If your man has asked you on a date after you have dated 2 of his best friends.
4. Does your man send you mass texts when he hasn't talked to you at all in a couple of weeks? Deal-Breaker.
5. Have you been dating your man for a couple of months, but when he is asked about the girl he is dating, he just shrugs his shoulders with an, "ahhownknow"? Um, DEAL-BREAKER.
6. What do you call a guy who doesn't ask you about yourself? Correct. Deal-Breaker.
7. Does your man let you sit alone when you don't know anyone else at the party? Uh-huh. Deal-breaker.
8. Does your man try to avoid seeing you in the halls at school when he knows you are there? And let me just remind you--he is no longer in the 8th grade. You know what that makes him.
9. What if you are dating your man for a couple of months, pretty steadily, and then when you ask where things are going, he lets you know that you are just friends? D. E. A. L. -. B. R. E. A. K. E. R.
10. Say that, on your first date, your man decides to list off the people he hates. What does that make him? A deal-breaker. (Guess what, Deal-Breaker, there is this little thing you should look up called "class." And while you are at it, look up "good-taste." Thank you.).
11. Did you text your man on his day off and he didn't text you back all day? Then, when he saw you later that night, after you two had said your "hellos" he let it slip that he had been chilling all day, doing nothing. Then, after your "goodbyes", did he text you back with an answer to what you texted him? I know it's complicated, but you gotta know. That's a deal-breaker.
12. Did your man forget there are no such things as secrets on Facebook? Ouch. Deal-breaker.

Listen ladies*, I know it's rough. But it seems like all of this would be common sense, right? Wrong. Some guys just don't get it. That's why we as ladies* have to be alert to what is actually going on. Shut. It. Down. Shut it down if your man really is a deal-breaker. We deserve what we deserve and we happen to deserve the very best.

*Note: The "ladies" I was just talking to probably don't exist. I just made them up. That was me talking to myself, trying to make me feel better and to get myself excited again about dating. And my list of deal-breakers is my way of venting. Now, I can cool down and breathe. Thanks for hanging in there with me.