Hope Springs Eternal

I've had my heart handed to me more times than I would like to count, yet on Valentine's Day I am still hopeful. 

I believe that somewhere is a smart and compassionate man that will fall for me.

A  friend tells me I set the bar too high in the smart category, but I know what I need.  I need an intelligent man.  I need someone who is informed and who can talk to me about local and world events with more depth than the average thirty minute evening newscast.  She tells me I will never meet someone who thinks as much as I do.  I'm not super intelligent by any means (no Mensa girl here), but I do enjoy lively debate.  The guy has to be a reader--no television addict for me.  I had that once; I swear he would watch a test pattern just to watch something.  It annoyed me to no end.  I don't have a television in the bedroom or the kitchen, and I don't intend to, either! 

As for compassionate I need someone who thinks of others--and that means someone who would consider the needs of others outside the family unit.  Being good to your family is a given, but what have you done for the well-being of others?  Do you volunteer?  Do you actively make this world a better place not for accolades or for some self-serving purpose, but rather just because?  To me caring about others is infinitely attractive.

I don't want someone self-centered.  I don't want someone who expects perfection because I'm far from perfect.  I want someone who believes in the same things that I do--that volunteering is good;  that having a spiritual life is a necessity; that thinking, reading, and talking are infinitely more pleasurable than zoning out in front of the television for endless hours.  Watching TV is not bad (oh how I still love an X-Files rerun and an occasional bout of General Hospital can be fun), but when it diisplaces everything else it's problematic.  It's so easy to sit on the couch, watch the screen, and say nothing.  That's not bonding--it's avoidance couched in high definition.

I can be shallow--I find blue eyes amazing and I've had my share of crushes on the sexy but clueless.  However,  I'm wise enough to know that's what's inside that truly counts...once I place my hormones in check.

And if he happens to have stunning blue eyes all the better.

Are you out there, my smart and sensitive Valentine?