Synopsis of Me, Myself and Men by Sharon St. John

Sharon St. John is a forty plus year old woman who over the years has taken a stroll down memory lane remembering how she felt about boys and trying to get them to like her.

She realized her early recollections of the interactions between her unmarried parents established the foundation she wanted to emulate when she was old enough to have a boyfriend of her own. After being placed in the foster care system by the parents she once admired, she was forced to change her views.

In her first foster home she saw what it would be like to be a single mother with no man around and she knew this was not the life she wanted for herself.

In the second foster home she was able to see how the unity of marriage worked in a relationship. She came to the conclusion that she liked having a mommy and daddy in the house together and eating dinner together all the time. While in the same foster home, after witnessing an unsavory relationship between her foster sister and one of her foster brothers, along with the uncomfortable attention from another foster brother, that she would never deal with an older man. This set the standards for her relationship goals when she would be old enough to be in a relationship.

During her time in foster care is when she realized that she liked boys, but for reasons she didn’t understand, the boys didn’t like her. She always knew she looked different from her biological sisters, but they never made her feel different. The boys she liked made it clear what they liked about the other girls. Sharon started to question her looks and compare herself to her sisters, friends, and foster family members. When her foster family started using the word ugly to describe her, she adapted that word as a key word in her description of herself.

As a teenager, she confused a hormone raging, horny teenage boy’s attention as someone who liked her despite her ugly looks. She lost her virginity to someone she didn’t even like with hopes that he would make her popular and liked by other people. That plan didn’t work out in her favor because that boy was in love with her pretty best friend. When she finally gave up on dating teenage boys, she dated a guy that was obviously older. At the age of 17, she found herself pregnant and alone because the older guy had another girlfriend and family on the side.

By the time she was in her twenties and attending college, she’d had several relationships that failed because the young men left her for women they perceived as prettier than her. These young men not only left a scare on her heart but on her body as well. With almost every failed relationship she was faced with the decision to terminate or bring forth life. By this time, she realized that her looks were never going to get her a boyfriend, so she started trying to buy love. She figured if she spent enough money the young man would make her his girlfriend. This idea also backfired. She was left feeling ugly and used by the men who she allowed in her life.

When she turned thirty years old, she decided to never spend another dime in the pursuit of love. She allowed one man to enter her life that she believed would set the standard for all other men to follow if things didn’t work out with him. This man was financially stable and in the beginning of their relationship continuously reassured her that she was pretty in his eyes She tried hard to fight falling in love with him but his charm and good looks were irresistible to her. This man broke down every wall she built for herself brick by brick.

Over the course of their ten-year relationship, this man who she’d convinced herself she didn’t want to live without, had completely turned on her. She endured countless occasions of infidelity, physical abuse and emotional abuse. After dealing with all of that she still did not give up on trying to find someone to love her and accept her the way she is. Sharon has made many mistakes in her life and a man has always been at the center of them.  She has not given up on the idea of finding love and being a wife to a great man someday. She realizes that she still has work to do for her personal growth and she is willing to take whatever time necessary to achieve self-fulfillment.

KIND WORDS