Because it really is personal…

As I was cleaning today, I felt satisfied, happy that the house smelled good and looked nice. Then I thought…in what way does this actually benefit anyone? Does it save a life? Or enable another family to…I don’t know…do something necessary like *eat*?

Sometimes it is such a satisfying life, taking care of a family, watching the kids grow up and be useful. Sometimes I really am *very* happy doing what I do. I truly do believe I’m doing what God wants me to do.

Then sometimes…I don’t. Sometimes I feel kind of trivial, or insulated. If I were a nurse, I’d be caring for people and making them better. If I were a psychologist I’d be helping people find their way through life.

Is there some sort of quantifying factor that is put on a life, that determines the life’s worth? What is the value of a housewife? Oh, I know, I’ve seen the thing where they put a price on all the stuff a housewife does- taxi driver, cook, maid, counselor, all that. It seems I recall the price was something like $250,000/year. How do I know they weren’t just saying that to make me feel good? How do I go about accessing that money? I have a friend who does all those things PLUS homeschools her 3 kids and does all kinds of volunteer stuff at her church. What’s she worth? At least $300,000, I’m sure.

Tell you what, friend who knows who you are, when my rich uncle dies and leaves me all his money, I’ll send you $300,000. Except I don’t have an uncle, rich or otherwise. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts, right?

It’s all well and and good to pat the housewife on the back and murmur about her sacrifice and contributions, but sometimes I’d sure like something tangible, a paycheck I can spend on whatever I like, be it patio furniture, a vacation for the family, or a basket full of goodies from the Dekalb Farmers Market.

I don’t think the Government should start issuing paychecks to housewives. Once they do that they’ll start feeling like they can control how we do things. There will be the whole “seperation of church and state” issue and homeschooling moms like my friend will be regulated on what they can teach. That would be bad.

I just want to whine about about it all a bit. I want to gripe about how I do a certain bit of cleaning, something obvious (to me) that took a while to do, and yet no one notices that I cleaned the door frames and got the fingerprints off the wall going upstairs and scrubbed the cruddy vent cover for the air conditioner. I mean, that vent cover was pretty nasty, and now it’s clean and doesn’t irritate me every time I look at it.

I can make excuses. They’re men, they don’t notice these things. They don’t care if my shoes are organized by color and style, and the clothes in the closet also by color. Smudges on the door frames do not concern them. They want food, and plenty of it. Clean laundry, and to know where their shoes are. To know where the TV remote is (that’s really important!) and what time does Deadliest Catch come on. That’s what concerns them.

Y’know, I have a beautiful pink linen dress half put together. I think today I’ll finish it up, after I find everyone’s shoes and get a meal fixed.