Oh yes, I agree that it is very important to let a man be a man. A woman should let a man teach her how to swim, but if she is already a swimmer she should be clever enough to pretend and let him teach her anyway. This is very refreshing in our relationship, I treat him like a man and he treats me like a woman. To put it bluntly, I know my place. He is the head of the household, but I am the neck. I support him, like any good woman should support her man.

You also mention the arguing in public or in front of people. Private matters are to remain private. I think in relationships the things people argue about are so trivial. Chances are if you were to wait to be in private you would have forgotten all about it because it was not important at all. It is not hard to wait until you are behind closed doors, communicate the problem, then discuss and solve it peacefully. If two people are unable to do this, then perhaps they are not mature enough to handle adult relationships.

He has the final say in what happens, but he does listen to me and wants to know what I think of something before making any final choices. He cares for my needs and does not want to force me into a bad place. Due to certain choices that he made before he met me, we are both going to have to make some sacrifices but that is the way it goes. If you are going to sacrifice something, then do it but never try to make the other person feel guilty or bad for it. Nobody likes a martyr.

Although he admits that he wished he had met me before he joined the Marines so he could make some different choices regarding that, I think that it is important that he is doing this. It is something he feels he must do, and I have to respect and support this choice. A man just has things that he feels he must do in his life, and I would never question or convince him out of it.