“Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honor.” ~ Norman Mailer

My husband, Tom, is a big 200+ pounder with tattooed arms and possesses definite "guy skills". Even at his age, the low side of 60, he's able to lift huge sheets of plywood by himself, carry boxes of heavy iron balusters, rip shrubs and trees out by their roots, build fences and dig deep holes with little difficulty. He could take a pocket knife and toothpicks into the woods and build a cozy cabin. Oh, he's that good.

Usually Tom's quite comfortable with his masculinity and doesn't feel the least bit feminine wearing a pink shirt with his jeans. Actually pink is a good color for him. But, the other day he said we needed to cut the hair on Joe's feet because it is so long that it curls up and he looks like he has on pixie shoes. He's mentioned this at least twice a day for the last few days and I'm beginning to think he's embarrassed to be seen with Joe and his pixie feet.

Tom says he's just looking out for Joe and his masculinity, but com'on, how much masculinity can a fluffy white fur ball project? No, I definitely think it is his own masculinity that Tom's worried about.

It's perfectly acceptable and doesn't have any negative impact on his masculinity whatsoever to be the big guy with tattooed arms and calloused knuckles shadowed by a little, bouncing, adoring 5-pound fluffy white fur ball with a black nose and pink tongue. And, of course, definitely not threatening to his masculinity by giving this little fur ball a place to quietly sleep in his lap. And, absolutely not threatening to his masculinity to carry on a lengthy, obviously one-sided conversation with said fur ball. All of this is perfectly acceptable.

But, pixie feet? Yep, we draw the line at pixie feet.