All the guys I’d ever dated back to 10th grade either had PhDs or went on to get them. I told myself and everybody else that I had a zombielike predilection for brains. Then in my early 40’s I burned out on a PhD who wasted way too much of my time with his emotional flakiness and who could hardly talk about anything but his academic subject. Soon after that I met a blue-collar man who didn’t finish college but managed to find a stable job based on his coursework, and who had people skills for days. He’s not the brainiest man I’ve ever known but he’s more of a man than any of the rest. I never thought that could be so important to me until I gave him a chance.