advice.........

Have you ever wondered if the advice you get from your friends about dating and that special someone is really good advice.
Women tend to talk about whats happening in their lives with their girlfriends and yes sometimes we obsess about " why didn't he call', "why did he say  that"   Why, why, why.......
We want answers to everything and we want an explanation for it all.  We listen to our friends complain about their men and we emphatically declare that man an asshole and tell her to dump him......
We don't know what we are saying, and woe be that silly woman that actually takes advice from her female friends.  Women can be your worst best friend, we tend to think that every man has to do things in one way and one way only.  Who cares what he wants, this is what you should be getting from him!  And if he doesn't do it the "way its supposed to be" then he must be
a.  Married.
b.  Loser
c.  hiding something like a personality disorder
There is no winning with female friends, if your relationship doesn't pass muster or is different, they tell you that its not right.
What is right anyway, who says there is a right and wrong to any relationship....and I am not talking about the really bad relationships where violence is a way of life, or a serial cheater is the main course.  I am talking about the "normal' ones.  Not that i would know about a normal relationship.  I have only had one real relationship in my whole life, and that was my marriage and that didn't turn out very well!
But what about at my age, past 40 something and heading to 50, what should a relationship be like?  Would the friends and family understand what I was looking for?  actually here's a thought.... Do I know what I am looking for??
I have always done what I felt was right, never really listening to advice from friends or family.  I have got hurt in the process of going my own way but in the end I know I did what I wanted and survived and have become a better person for it.  So advice is nice to listen to, but will I take it............