Ask me the dreaded cliched “what do I do”question and I may pause. Do you mean, how do I earn and living? Or where do I find my life’s purpose in a seemingly dull life of parenting? I’ll answer that I’m a writer because that is definitely an answer I can proudly own. But truly, more of me is that homebody and that mother and I derive tremendous pride and pleasure from that. But you might not understand that answer. Because it all sounds so trite and swell and female.
I am very proud of the homebody I am. I have tremendous housepride as I have created a home that’s fun and comfortable and very me. I am “practicing the art and mystery of housewifery” as it was termed hundreds of years ago. This was a job young women apprenticed in because everything that made up the life inside the house was the wife’s jurisdiction and required knowledge, leadership, cooking skills, and organization. Add good parenting to that list and modern women’s lives don’t look much different. Except some of them work outside the home as well.
In order to make it look easy, there’s a lot that goes into all the work of maintaining a house and a family. From scheduling hair cuts, doctor’s appointments, and extra curricular activities, to maintaining pets and keeping a clean household as well as being responsible for 24 meals a week, it’s a Herculean task. I don’t think even we the homekeepers are giving ourselves the proper amount of credit.
I feel for the successful businesswoman who finds herself at home with her baby feeling worthless because she is no longer doing the job that made her feel powerful. Cleaning diapers and baby bottles doesn’t seem to hold the same glamour. We are not all raised and trained to value this immense and stressful job of being stay at home mothers. Finding the beauty in the moment of a toddler tantrum isn’t highly publicized.
I can say for myself, the more present and mindful I am, the more beautiful my life has become. I adore having the creative design outlet the house gives me. I love cooking most of the time and I adore making family time together. And I love being able to sit down and take my own time to write about how I feel about all of this. Because I am a homebody, mother, and writer. And I’m proud of these definitions of me.
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