For example, in our family, we have fallen into more traditional roles as I chose to stay home with the kids. Yet we still do not fall so strictly to that side as to make me feel like Mrs. Cleaver. True, Adel brings home the bacon, but he also does his fair share of cooking it up and cleaning it up too. Since I'm not "off work" at 5 o'clock, neither is he. Once he's home from work, he wipes bottoms, washes dishes, and reads bedtimes stories with the same regularity that I do. We've got a pretty good system worked out and he is a sacrificing and loving husband for his willingness to shoulder the load with me.
But there are still some lines I have not crossed. For one, I do not do yard work. I have never mowed a lawn in my life. I'm not sure whether I'm proud or embarrassed of that fact. I spend my fair share of time weeding and mulching and making pathetic attempts to grow flowers without any effort beyond the initial planting, but I leave the lawn to him for better or for worse.
The other thing I do not deal with is BUGS! When the bug guys come to our door advertising their services, I tell them that my husband takes care of it because he does take care of it. And generally, we are happy with this arrangement. But, sometimes my sweet traveling man is not here when the bugs come to call. Like today. I came home this morning from an overnight stay at Mimi's house with the kids. What I found was a nasty surprise of tiny dried, dead worms on and around my windowsills. And Adel won't be home until Friday. I handled the cleanup, but that's normal...as a mom, I've grown accustomed to cleaning up gross things.
I still felt the problem needed to be addressed. Clearly the worms came in through the windows after the last major rain storm. Clearly our windows were in need of a new application of perimeter spray. My normal thought would be, "But that's a GUY task!" However, this time I did it myself (mostly because I had only two options: do it myself or wait). So, between loads of laundry and feeding my kids I went out into the garage and found the spray myself. Between doing the dishes and vacuuming the floors I read the instructions and treated every downstairs window myself. I must say it was super easy and I feel quite liberated.
It's a small thing but I crossed a line today and I feel much bigger for it. That's one small step for womankind and one giant leap for me.
2 comments:
Go Megan! I think I would have waited until Dan came home. Ha!
Although, I will say that I have mowed many of my parent's lawns, depending on where we lived. I would mow them mainly when I would see them during breaks from college. I don't think you're missing much!
hahaha, this reminds me that my good friend across the street in slidell used to cut her own lawn every week......bill would always (jokingly....i think) bring it to my attention..... i did try t cut the grass one time, and absolutely could not push that thing more than a few rows......definitely a guy job!
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