Home-making. What the hell is that ?

I check my stats everyday, which tells you how many people have visited your site on a  daily basis. I found a tool to give me more traffic. The more traffic, the more people will read my blog. The more people who read my blog, the more known (or that is my hope) I will become. When that book (s) comes out, hopefully it will be an easier sell. All this takes time and I’m the first to admit my ineptness on the net. I can also admit my impatience, when it comes to being acknowledged for writing.

One site asked me to list all my interests. There were more categories than I’ve ever seen. Anywhere. I couldn’t even read them all. They must have gone to a think tank for this. But there was one category that made me laugh. I wondered, who set this site up ?  Someone nostalgic for the 50’s ?

It had a category for home-making and I checked it as a spoof. When was the last time you heard that term ? I always wondered, even as a child, what that meant because my mother wasn’t one of them.  In today’s world, it sounds like a builder of homes, especially if you take the term literally. But we boomers have heard it before. We know what it means. We just haven’t heard it for a long time. At least I haven’t.

Don’t you just conjure up images of June Cleaver and Harriet Nelson ? I’d include the mother from the Brady Bunch, whatever her name was, but I can’t, because she cheated. She had Alice the maid.  I remembered Alice’s name but not hers. That’s how little this mother ( a supposed home-maker) did.  I bet I’m quickly losing the under 40 crowd fast.

Was this a job ? Home-making ? It was. Raising kids, cooking and cleaning everyday is no easy task. I know because I don’t do it. What is easy is that you don’t have to apply for an outside job, because you have a built-in one and no one is going to fire you from that.  Do you really think your other half (of your couple) wants to do this ? I doubt it. That’s why you’re there. But during this time, you’re probably able to pursue or  at least think about your interests, even on a part-time basis. This way when you’re finally free of all those responsibilities and ready to be launched, you know where your rocket is pointed.

You have time during the day,  except when the kids come home for milk and cookies after school and the evening meal needs to be prepared.  Is there still such a thing as milk and cookies ? I think they could be a thing of the past. Everyone is gluten-free today.

You can shop during the day for groceries and sundries, go to the beauty parlor, as my mother and her generation used to say and then head home. I still have a friend who uses the term beauty parlor and I laugh every time she says it. Does anyone know what she’s talking about ?

Of course shopping also consists of new clothes for the family and you. Yeeaa. A woman’s favorite past-time. It’s embedded into our DNA. There’ s lunch with the girls a few times a week and PTA meetings that also gets you out of the house. Maybe there are get togethers for all these home-makers, or cocktails in the afternoon. I know women with kids, even today, that share play groups and all that other stuff centered around their kids.

There’s probably a minority of home-makers today, but you can be sure, they’ve re-coined the term. They would never call themselves that. It’s now something more sophisticated and sounds elevated. Like all the other terms we used to use and changed. Instead of an airline stewardess,  they’re now called flight attendants. Instead of a sales girl or man, notice the difference in rank then. The woman was a girl, but a man was still a man. Thank God for women’s lib. Today they’re called a sales associate, so gender need not apply here.

Today, I’d be the first to raise my hand for the job of home-maker. I wouldn’t care what they called it.  I’d pop out a kid or two. Once they’re shipped off to school, I’d use my time to write. I’d hire a maid, oh sorry, I mean a cleaning person. I’d get take-out 3 times a week and learn to cook the rest. Or get a cook if we had the money. On week-ends, I’d make a ritual where the whole family went out for dinner on Friday night. Saturday night, my husband and I would have date night or we’d join another couple for dinner. The kids and babysitter would get pizza.

I’d break down on Sundays and cook eggs, make toast and serve fresh fruit. Now doesn’t that sound nice ? See, it could all work out if you’re smart enough to plan ahead. So, now that I’m too old for that particular job, maybe we could find me another title, minus the kids.

I think in the past, our parents generation called it marrying well. Something I didn’t do. I only went out with who I liked and was attracted to, not someone who had the potential to give me an easier life. Yes, youth is wasted on the young. If I could have foreseen the future, I might have looked for both. I’m sure one of those guys was a package deal. I always ignored those possibilities. And then, like nothing, time slipped away and 20 years passed.

So, if there’s a great guy out there, a baby boomer, who wants to share his life with a creative, funny, kind woman, who would now be willing to keep the hearth going, I’m it. According to my last husband, you’ll never be bored because I have lots of interests, love to travel and am open to trying new things.

If you want a contemporary version of a home-maker with no kids, ( just pretend we’re empty nesters) and someone who will greet you when you come home, unless I’m out and will cook you great meals, (I’ll start watching the food channel), then I’m your girl.  So, pick me. I’ll even wear an apron. With lipstick and heels of course.