Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Guenivere

Just now, sitting at my desk, working on vacation reconcilitaion and listening to "Guenivere" by Shaye, I had a major revelation.

There was someone I was so angry with for so long. I just realized where part of that came from.

I was mad at her for being like me, with my storied sexual history, and her hiding affairs, and both of us being cheaters. She was meant to be the one who was stable and stuff, and she wasn't. I was mad that she lied to me, yes, and that she used me to further her agenda in her relationships, but I just realized that it was really that I was mad at me, and mad at her for being like me.

You see, until my current relationship, my current marriage, I have never had a relationship in which I was completely faithful. Even in my first marriage, which was an open one, I managed to go outside the rules of engagement, as it were.

This part of the song was something I believed about myself for so long:

"Sorry but I can't help myself
So I can't help you
I'm always searching
For something new
It's in my nature to be untrue"

It's something I still struggle against, and while I know that I wouldn't cross that line again (because trust me if it were going to happen , it would have happened this year), it's something I'm aware of. I get crushes, I flirt with people, but I work very hard at keeping that arm's-length engaged.

I wonder where this comes from in me. It's quite likely that at least one of my grandfathers philandered, and I know that another family member flirted with the idea but didn't follow through. Is it nature? Does it have something to do with experiences I had as a teenager and my resulting lack of self-care? I think the answer is a little of both.

Ultimately, I think I was chasing a fairy tale. People talk about how you don't want to settle, you should wait for the perfect...whatever. I don't think I have settled, although my life is not a fairy tale. That's just as well, since I would get pretty bored up in a tower all day.

"It wasn't just you, it wasn't just this
Maybe I'm looking for something that just don't exist
It wasn't just you, it wasn't just here
I'm not lady, I am Guenivere"

3 comments:

Jenn said...

I think this is more normal (in women) than we ever really talk about in society. Especially when the women are not weighed down by the overwhelming burden of children (just because then there is less time to get out of the house, less energy to put into anything other than basic hygiene). I think lots of us flirt, crush, dibble, dabble. And then I think lots of us meet someone who can keep up with us and this fades away.
So, in all, I hear ya.

Jess said...

I guess I should preface this by saying I've never cheated by the usual definition, but during the last couple of years of my marriage I suffered from wandering eye big time.

For me, I feel like it's the other way around; it was chasing the fairy-tale WITHIN my marriage that did that to me. I thought I ought to find all my happiness with one person (friend, lover, hobby partner, companion in all things...) and squishing the urge to have my own life outside the marriage made it come out in unhealthy ways.

Annika said...

Clicking bewbs is about as profound as I'm likely to get today. But I like this post a lot, and I'm glad you wrote it.