Dinner for Two

I finally finished reading Dinner for Two by Mike Gayle a few weeks ago.  It's about a guy that's got it all - great wife, nice house, job he loves, but is looking for the last piece of the puzzle: kids.  The catch?  His wife isn't interested which coincides with job termination when the music magazine he writes for goes under.  As a favour to a friend, he takes on the most daunting task a magazine writer can take - advice columnist for a teen magazine.  Sifting through hundreds of letters, Dave finds one that changes everything because it's not from a lovestruck girl who needs help.  It's from a girl that happens to be the daughter he never knew existed.

It's interesting to hear a male perspective on accidental pregnancy.  Scratch that - it's awesome to hear a male perspective on anything that has to do with relationships.  I really enjoyed this book not only for it's humour and heart, but also for the way it's written.  Chapters can be as short as a paragraph and as long as several pages.  We move from Dave's narrative to emails to letters and even to magazine articles which provides a nice change in pace from traditional novels. 

One thing I had to keep in mind throughout the book is that I don't know many guys like this and shouldn't assume anything about this type of guy.  Granted most of the guys I know are still fairly young and aren't thinking of settling down yet.  It's interesting to think of what they'll be like when they finally grow up...

I'm left to wonder if guys really do hear their biological clocks ticking louder as the years roll on.  I've seen them in movies, on TV, and read about them in books, but I've never actually met a guy who just wants to stop dating, get married, and pop out some kids.  Women tend to start thinking of these things much earlier in life which supports the theory that we mature faster than men.  However, it's pretty safe to say that women are taking a bit longer to reach the 'settle down' stage than we used to.

When I graduated from high school, we put together a time capsule complete with predictions of what we would be like in 10 years.  Well the time to open it back up is fast approaching and I wonder just how many predictions of "married with 2 kids" have actually come true.  Personally, I never predicted that for myself because somehow I knew that I'd eventually stray off the path to have some adventures.  While having kids is an adventure all on its own, I'm pretty sure it'd put a slight damper/delay on the adventures still to come.  Truthfully, I think I'll be an awesome mom when the time comes.  It's the one thing in the future that I don't worry about, which may explain why I'm not in a rush to get there...

Clearly I've wandered so far away from where I was going when I started this post that I'm not sure where I was going to begin with but I'm sure none of you mind right?  To bring it back to the book, I'm going to toss out a couple of quotes that have stuck with me for the past month...the last one is a little cheesy, but you know it's what every girl wants to hear one way or another.

Dave feels like his friends are rushing their relationship.  They reply, "That's been the problem all along.  I used to think I had all the time in the world to do everything I wanted.  But what's the use of having all the time in the world if you're always wasting it on things that don't mean a thing?"

Madonna on why she never asked Sean Penn to marry her even though she knew he wanted to propose: "It's one thing to have to read a man's mind.  But it's another to have to read it back to him."

Dave's take on how men feel about weddings: "On the surface we might seem unfocused and uninterested but, metaphorically speaking, deep down we know, having walked around the shopping mall of life, we have found the perfect gift for ourselves, which is, of course, you."