Side Streets

There is a broad main street in Pacific Grove, and there are narrow crossing streets along the length of it as it goes through downtown.  Merchants whose businesses lie along those skinny streets place signs on the main street corners to attract traffic to their front doors.  The signs stand like small dogs wearing saddles with their noses pointing uphill or down.

Spying something small and unusual as I wend my way along an avenue piques my imagination; the signs work.  If I have a few extra minutes, I satisfy my curiosity and look for things I haven't seen before, go places I've never been, find a new angle from which to view the world.

This may be the main difference between the way men and women shop.  I've heard men say - very often - that they just want to get into a store, find the thing they're looking for and get out as quickly as possible.  Wandering, touching, and exploring quietly are generally the things women do as they make their way along aisles of merchandise or along little streets in towns and cities.

If I were you, men, I'd keep this in mind when considering how to get a lady's attention and make her content and happy.  Allow her to explore and experience new places with all her senses if she needs that.  Rushing a woman who is ready to shop is a sad thing, and resentment will build and spill into other aspects of life.

Young guys in high school and college always ask each other how to get a girl.  The answer is do what the girls love:  Dance, shop slowly, develop an eye for detail and intrigue.  Especially the intrigue.  There lies the flirtation, sense of play and a little bit of danger.  It's a funny thing, is intrigue and mystery.  It unfolds and reveals layers of the unknowable and interesting subtleties of life.

Poking around in places that invite exploration, imagination and that suggest possibility is where the excitement in a day takes on depth.  Hunting, seeking, and finding stir the spirit.

I saw one little sign today and took a side street, mentally marked the shop as I drove slowly by on my way home.  I'll go back on foot sometime soon, see what might be there.  I could see the merest hint of the interior through the front window, mysterious, dim, something that looked like many things I could imagine.  Now I want to solve the little mystery.  But not too quickly.  It's more fun that way.