This is such a crazy time we live in. Being a good wife and partner is just such a clash of old school and new school. There’s the domestic piece that seems soooooo submissive and Pollyanna-ish. There’s the new world attitude of “get over yourself” or “what have you done for me lately?”
My husband woke up crabby and I didn’t get up when he did – I had been getting up and having a little morning pep talk with him but today – I slept in. Later he emailed me and said he was feeling crabby and work wasn’t making things any better, plus he had to work late.
So what does the good wifey do?? Tell him to suck it up? Ignore it until he got over himself? Well….I had to think on it. And I decided to make life as easy for him as possible when he got home. I cleaned up, tended to the kiddos (who pretty much tend themselves these days), ran the dishwasher, prepped for dinner, folded and put away laundry.
This might be ‘everyday’ maintenance for some people – for me it is NOT. It was actually a little bit on the “June Cleaver” spectrum – and it was uncharted territory. But like anyone else, I figured he’d enjoy coming home to a clean house and a good meal. We had steak and salad, I gave him free reign of the remote, and I basically let him have an evening to do whatever he wanted and I left him at it. Eventually he came upstairs and we watched some TV together before he fell asleep. We prayed together and that was nice. He loves me and I feel like he appreciated my efforts – but I didn’t expect any atta girl stuff. I just wanted to be the right kind of person.
So I don’t know why I care if people think I’m doing the old school wife thing. It’s my life right? I’m not a doormat, I’m very well taken care of, I’m supported and loved in everything that I choose to do. I can be a good wife and still be a modern woman, right??? And yet, while I’m folding the laundry I’m thinking “Am I being a punk here? Shouldn’t I be shopping or doing something fabulous with other fabulous women?”
Ugh….men don’t have this kind of dilemma, do they?
