SATC Week – An homage to Aidan, the sweet, sexy furniture designer who got away

His name was Aidan Shaw. I was smitten with Carrie’s crush upon first sight. Forget about Carrie; I would love for Stanford to come visit me and our children at our cozy cottage upstate. Our babies would be smart and beautiful … not to mention imaginary.

Aidan Shaw was everything Carrie had said she’d ever wanted – a sweet and sexy Adonis invented by the show’s writers to counterbalance her on/off-again love affair with Big. He was kind, caring, supportive, emotionally available and he even introduced her to his parents not long after beginning to date her. How long had she been dating Big when he still refused to introduce her to his mother as his girlfriend? He was also extremely talented, artistic, hardworking, intelligent and sexy. Aidan possessed all the ideal qualities in a mate that single women are supposedly seeking. And yet, Carrie let him get away … more than once. How did she let this happen?

I recently took a fond stroll down memory lane and rewatched the Aidan episodes of Sex and the City. It’s a dirty job but somebody’s got to do it, and I decided to take one for the CliqueClack team. (Sighs) There was John Corbett, just as I remembered him … actually maybe looking even better than I remembered him. That charmingly-sweet, boyish grin and down-to-earth good looks all packaged in a manly physique (not overpoweringly muscular or threatening by any means), but he was a skilled furniture craftsman that was good with his hands. He demonstrated this to Carrie when he placed his hand over hers and sensuously rubbed up and down the leather chair he had made from 100-year-old railroad seat covers. It was sexier than the pottery scene in Ghost between Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Eh, well almost.

There he was with his wise-cracking teasing as his dog almost knocked Carrie over and he told her his dog, Pete, only picked the best-looking ladies to hump. Instant sparks flew between the two, as Carrie purchased the chair she couldn’t afford just to have an excuse to have him deliver it to her apartment. When I was single, something that clever never would have occurred to me. Kudos, Carrie. Kudos.

It was obvious they had great chemistry right off the start, as they embarked upon some of the world’s longest dates together (coffee led to a movie, which led to a long walk which led to dinner … when was the last time I had a date that went so blissfully long?) and that patch where she never wanted to leave her bed because he was in it. I can’t say I blame her. Aidan really understood what women want. He was willing to overlook her faults (he had told her he couldn’t date a smoker but then amended that when he caught her “cheating” and smoking) and he drew her a bubble bath and joined her? He also wanted to wait and savor the moment when they first made love, saying he only wanted to sleep with somebody he truly cared about. Be still my beating heart. Actually, though, I knew there was a reason I liked Aidan better than Big. With his cute noises he makes when kissing her and his sweet little belly, he reminds me of my boyfriend who has also been known to be sweet and witty upon occasion.

And then Carrie had to let Big abso-fucking-lutely ruin a good thing she had going, because he was selfish and couldn’t stand the thought of her being happy with someone else. She couldn’t just ignore running into him and his inappropriate voicemail messages? I understand it, and yet I don’t understand it. If Carrie hadn’t met Big first, I really think she could’ve lived happily-ever-after with Aidan. His kiss made her knees weak. He completely trusted her with his heart. They had struck a harmonious balance, having their “together time” and their “independent time” with their friends and work. He eventually forgave her for cheating on him with Big, giving her a second chance, and he even proposed to her! How many times does a woman find something so rare in this lifetime?

So, why did Carrie blow it with Aidan more than once? I think it’s because she just couldn’t shake Big from her soul, no matter how hard she tried. There are some people in this life that just manage to crawl under your skin and take hold and even when you know you need to shake them off, sometimes you just can’t. Maybe it’s fear or maybe it’s fate. No matter which side of the coin you fall on, sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants and that’s all there is to it. It couldn’t work out with Aidan anymore than it could have worked out with Berger, Petrovsky or any of the rest of them. Once Carrie bit from the forbidden fruit that was Big, she was ruined for any other man. I love the character of Big, but I loved Aidan more. And I’ll never forget the crushed puppy-dog look on Aidan’s face any of the times that Carrie Bradshaw broke his heart.

Clacked by Kim Tibbs
on Aug 29, 2012 @ 09:00 EST5EDT