Call me Kate...

Katharina: 

    

"Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,/And  dart not scornful glances from those eyes,/To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:/It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,/Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,/And in no sense is meet or amiable./A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,/Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;/And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty/Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it./Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,/Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,/And for thy maintenance commits his body/To painful labour both by sea and land,/To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,/Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;/And craves no other tribute at thy hands/But love, fair looks and true obedience;/Too little payment for so great a debt./Such duty as the subject owes the prince/Even such a woman oweth to her husband;/And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,/And not obedient to his honest will,/What is she but a foul contending rebel/And graceless traitor to her loving lord?/I am ashamed that women are so simple/To offer war where they should kneel for peace;/ Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway,/When they are bound to serve, love and obey./Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,/Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,/But that our soft conditions and our hearts/Should well agree with our external parts?/Come, come, you froward and unable worms!/My mind hath been as big as one of yours,/My heart as great, my reason haply more,/To bandy word for word and frown for frown;/But now I see our lances are but straws,/Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,/That seeming to be most which we indeed least are./Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,/And place your hands below your husband's foot:/In token of which duty, if he please,/My hand is ready; may it do him ease."

This famous speech, from the last act of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, has always confounded me. I have resisted and refused to understand it. Until now.

For the first time in my life, I understand and feel these lines, intimately. I can just imagine all my comrades from my college days “Women’s Studies 101” class cringing and gasping in complete, utter and furious disbelief, but yes, indeed, yes, this notorious shrew has been soundly tamed!

Love is a funny thing. And, I feel and know that I have been thoroughly changed by it.

Like no one I have ever known, The D.E.B. loves unconditionally. In every area of his life he lives earnestly, from his heart. He is a "friend indeed" to all those in his life. To me, his has been so much more than merely a "Prince Charming". He has been true lover, soul mate and best friend. From the moment we found each other, he loved and accepted me as I was, and all that I was: warts, baggage and all.

His kindness, his thoughtfulness, his generosity, his gentleness, his passion for me, these are all things that leave me speechless, reduce me to thankful tears, and make me wonder if I am only dreaming this life, and not living it all.

And in this waking dream, I know that he, precious he, deserves better, much better than the old, peevish, bull-headed me.

He is the man I have waited my entire life for, and yes, if he so pleased, I would place my hand beneath his foot to do him ease.