Domestic-er and Domestic-er

Its a common conversational question: "And what do YOU do?" Ive been asked this question when meeting people in our apartment building, while at lunch with new friends from church, and while at a work event with Jon's associates. What people really mean by that question varies with every asker. They mean: What do you do? What fills your days? What gets you up in the morning? What kind of person are you? Will we get along? How do you fit in to our social social-economical surroundings? But most commonly, they just want to know what my job is. You should see their faces when I smile and tell them Im a housewife.

They sometimes laugh and make a "kept-woman" joke. Both men and women, who are otherwise unsure of how to respond, say this. I laugh along tell them its the good life, but inside Im usually pretty unsure how to take it, as the dictionary defines a "kept-woman" as "someone who does not work and who is given money and a place to live by the person who they are having an intimate relationship with". While this is technically true, I resent the implied uselessness in reference to me and my position in the household. I know they only mean to break the ice, but to me it is a reminder of how little society in general thinks of the housewife anymore. If you are a woman who would like to stay at home to cook dinner and raise children, rather than put on a suit and work in a traditional business company, you are somehow less of a person.

But forget Mars, EARTH needs Moms. I want my kids to grow up with homemade bread (my new obsession). I want to be the one who welcomes them into the house after school. I want Jon to walk in the house after work, and be comfortable relaxing in a well-kept roost. I want to be that crazy mom on the block who has the time to bake (and fully decorate!) 100 cupcakes for the party. I dont want to be too tired in the evening to spend time making a healthy meal. At night I want to have enough energy to read and cuddle with them. I want to spend my day making sure the house my family lives in is clean, safe, and beautiful. If this all makes me less than useful to society, society can suck it. Now you'll have to excuse me, I have some fresh peaches that need to be made into jam for our breakfast tomorrow.