Stainless is to the early 2000′s as Avocado is to the 1970′s!

I just realized this when shopping for a new fridge recently.  EVERYTHING is stainless steel.  Everyone I know is “upgrading” to stainless appliances.  All of a sudden, as I was strolling  chasing my two kids through the appliance section of Sears last night, I realized that Stainless is the new Avocado. 

Our kids are going to grow up and say “ugh – my parents have one of those old-fashioned kitchens where everything is stainless steel, you know?”

So our new fridge is black!

When I was in my twenties and hanging out with friends, the conversation often turned to things like ”what if we won the lottery?” or “don’t you wish you were born into insane wealth?”    We spent a lot of time sitting around planning how we wouldn’t have to work and we could do whatever we want etc. etc. etc.  The common theme being – wouldn’t it be great if we could go into work tomorrow and just quit.

Now that I’m in my thirties and am a stay-at-home Mom, these same people often ask things like, “so you are still just home with the kids?” or “when will you put the kids in daycare so you can go back to work” or “don’t you miss working?”. 

Why is not working so that you can stay home with your kids viewed as being worse than not working so that you can stay home because you won the lottery?

A man!

Yes, yes, only women can experience the miracle of giving birth to a child and having that one of a kind bond (hahahaha at first I typed “bong”!).  And yes, I’m really enjoying that this time around.  I wouldn’t change it for anything.

But next time, I want to come back as a man.  That miraculous feeling wears off after a while when you realize that it is pretty much your sole responsibility FOR LIFE to clean the house, nurse the babies, cook the meals, take care of the kids, weed the garden, send the birthday gifts to extended family, put your career on hold while you stay home with your kids, etc.

I don’t want to sound like I’m whining about housework.  I’m not – the point I’m trying to make is that if you walk into the home of a married couple and it is a total mess, people’s first thought is “Wow, this woman is a lousy housekeeper.”  No one ever puts the responsibility on the man.

When your father-in-law doesn’t get a birthday gift – it’s never a reflection on his own son.  It’s on the daughter-in-law. 

Once you have a family, society views it as ok for the father to put himself first.  A mother can’t.  And if she does – she’s viewed as selfish or uncaring.  And it’s starting to annoy me.
   

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