Traditional Wife and Mom?

Thomas's comment on my last post and a couple of conversations I've had recently about homeschooling inspired this post. Yes, I do the laundry for my family. It's one of my alter-egos: the Laundry Fairy. That's how the clean stuff makes it from the basket to the closet - the Laundry Fairy does it all. No, I don't iron. The Iron Fairy is not one of my alter-egos. Never has been, never will be. In fact, at my wedding shower 27 years ago, my Mom gave me a gift and announced it wasn't for me, it was for Eric. It was an ironing board and iron. She told me she knew I would never use it, that it would always be Eric's job. That was an accurate prediction. I'll iron my own clothes in a pinch, but that's it. One time when Eric was in a rush to get from work to a meeting, he asked me to iron him a shirt. When I plugged the iron in, flames shot out of the plug - a sure sign that I was not meant to iron. Eric had to leave work, get to the store, buy a new iron and iron his own shirt. I don't think he has ever asked me again!

Despite the whole ironing thing, I am a traditional wife and mother. Traditional in the sense that I have been home with the kids all these years while Eric has worked to support us. I cut my hours to part-time when Web was born, cut them even more when Riley was born and actually managed to not work outside the home at all from the time Riley was two till he was five. That was when I started at my current job. Back then I only taught a two credit class, over the years I've worked up to 12 credits - the max a part-timer can teach. We made a decision long ago to adjust our lifestyle to allow me to be home. At that time, we thought I'd go back to work when Riley entered school. Our decision to homeschool changed that plan; instead the plan became for me to go back to work full time when Riley graduated. For those keeping track, you are right - he'll be a senior this year. My time is short!

We've been incredibly fortunate that Eric has been able to support us over the years. Of course, this was a choice we made, and we were fully aware of the financial and material impacts that it would have on our life. I realize that we have been very blessed to be able to afford to spend those years with our children. Again, though, it is a choice. We gave up big vacations, a big house, new cars and other material things to achieve our dream. It's just been in the last few years that some of that has begun to change - I consider that a bonus. In the middle years, we were even more lucky that Eric was able to work from home. It gave him a chance to participate in some of the schooling and gave us a lot of time together as a family.

Back to the post title. Being the one at home all day, I have taken on the traditional roles of wife and mother. I do the cleaning, the shopping, the laundry, the bills, the cooking, the schooling; basically I manage our household and the boys education. I'm not a big gardener, but I work in the yard anyway - mostly that is a shared task though (if it even gets done - running seems to have impacted our yard work abilities!) Eric manages the cars (thank goodness), mows and does all home repair. It works for us. The boys have been taught all the basics - Web was perfectly able to fend for himself when he left home. The boys have had chores, but not a huge amount. During the high school years they both have held a part-time job and attended school full time. I feel like that is enough. My job is to keep things running smoothly so both Eric and the boys can be successful.

I'm kind of sad that this season of my life is coming to an end. I am a homebody through and through. I already miss the days when we spent all our time together. On the other hand, I'm also ready for the "empty nest". I'm ready to take off for the weekend and not worry about the teenager at home. I'm ready to eat a bowl of cereal for dinner instead of cooking. I'm ready to let the housework go, the dust and weeds build up...oh wait...I'm already doing that one! It was strange to go from an everyday family of four to an everyday family of three, and it will be even stranger to go back to being a full-time couple. I know that I will always be a parent, but the daily business of being a parent, of being a foursome, or threesome will be over. We are facing one of life's big transitions at our house and part of me wants to gather the boys in tight and hang on, part of me wants to give them that gentle push out into the world.

So, yep. Wife, Mother, Runner. That's me. And on that note, this week to date:
Monday: Rest from running, Pilates
Tuesday: 8 miles with Sonya, 1:42:47