Somebody recently said my Facebook posts were looking awfully domestic lately. I immediately felt kind of sad and defensive. Here is a list of things I do every day.
*Clean things
*Feed people
*Run errands
*Watch the Daily Show
What could I be blogging about other than my "domesticity"? I am a stay at home Mom. I go to church almost every week. I volunteer at my daughter's school. I bake bread, I have recently taken up quilting. I buy organic foods at a co-op. I made a lot of my own baby food and my kid wears cloth diapers. Am I a tie-dye wearing hippie mama? No. Am I a calico-wearing quiverfull churchy mama? No. Am I a crisp shirted Martha Stewart perfectionist mom? Hahahahaha. No. Am I a modern day June Cleaver? No. Am I a "Yummy Mummy" with perfect hair and nails? Nope...
I'm just me, the same old Suzanne, now with two kids. I have frizzy hair and I rely on jeans. I am an intellectual who never finished college. I am a sci-fi loving nerd girl. I am a red lipstick loving diva. I am a reader and a poet. And of course, I am a very busy woman. I have to clean-up after and feed my kids so I try and make that as interesting as possible, teach myself new cooking techniques, create recipes, learn to bake. I haven't figured out a way to make the cleaning more fun but maybe soon. If I had more time or less children maybe I'd take up painting, or go back to acting, or do more with my writing. But I *do* have two kids that I love with all my heart. I just can't love them with all of my twisty-twirly brain. So, with no time to learn a new art, I apply my rather prodigious ambition to the domestic arts. In essence I am a multi-tasker, keeping myself and the kids amused, fed, educated and maybe, sometimes, on a good day, inspired. I make my kids laugh, they make me laugh. They teach me things, hopefully I am teaching them. Meanwhile the earth keeps turning, the dishes pile up, the sun goes down and another day ends. My sphere of domesticity leads me to think about things, why does bread love salt as we learn in King Lear, when I know now that salt kills yeast? Baking bread is chemistry and poetry, keeping the rainbarrel full and I am a meterologist. Reading the kids books; I am an early learning specialist. Applying bandaids and dispensing antibiotics; I am a nurse. I write thank you cards and christmas lists. I forge letters from the Tooth Fairy. I am still my husband's girlfriend and his best friend and I have a circle of long time friends whom I love and cherish. I am the big sister and the oldest daughter and the granddaughter that loves to watch the Oscars.
I am always me, the girl who could never settle down.
Embrace the domestic! It's where we are right now and it's all good!
ReplyDeleteIt is all good! I am a pretty happy camper most of the time. Being a stay at home Mom is the kind of job you can't describe accurately to someone who has never done it, and you don't need to describe it to someone who has...
ReplyDeleteYou are beautiful. And you raise children that are just as beautiful. More mother's should be like you. "The girl who could never settle down" with imagination, passion, and love, is never truly domesticated and you use all your talents to inspire your children. Their lust for life keeps you young. Never lose that spark!
ReplyDeleteThank you Angela! I appreciate that more than you will ever know! xoxox
ReplyDelete