Everyone Needs a Wife

After being on sabbatical for a while, everyone asks me what I do with all of my "free time". Well, I've become almost as busy during the day as I was when I was working. Give me a few more weeks, and I'll be busier than I was when I was working full-time. I don't think I will feel at all bored once I hit 70 (or maybe 75 or 80) and "retire" from an official job.

Here is a brief idea of how I spend my day: I have two volunteer jobs, one at the local YMCA two mornings a week from 9am to 1pm; the second, tutoring middle school students in an after-school program 3:30 to 5:30 pm, Monday through Thurdays. I took my niece to high school one day after she missed the bus and both of her parents had already left for work. Yesterday, I picked my sister-in-law up from work and took her over to her mechanic's shop to pick up her car. I grocery shop and cook dinner for my dad, and wash the dishes afterwards. I run errands to the post office, the bank, the pharmacy. I convinced my dad to get his kitchen sink drain fixed, and the basement stairs leveled. I make phone calls, pay bills and followup on my health insurance claims. I make homemade Xmas cards and cookies. I shovel the snow at dawn from the driveway before the town plow rolls by. I am currently taking up the hem on a pair of my dad's slacks and I plan to re-paint the the hallway to the bedrooms in my dad's house during the next two weeks. I am one very busy lady. And, I have time to write on this site for an hour or two per day, time permitting. (This is the one luxury I allow myself). The thing is, I LIKE it. I never thought I'd say this, but I honestly like being a "wife". (But have my limitations; I do not do windows, or other such tasks, and this just might hurt my chances of being a real "wife".)

I went down to the local library yesterday to ask if they will set up my donation box for the victims of Haiti and, on my way to speak to the library director, I passed a marvelous photo display hanging on the wall of the front hall of the library. The display was a pictoral and written account created by several high school seniors who went over to the local assisted living faciltiy and spoke with the residents about their lives. These elders had quite a few stories to tell, being living legends now in their 80s or 90s (one lady was 102), who immigrated from other countries, and lived through several wars, depressions, and horrific acts of terrorism. They clearly had amazing adventures in their lives. But, here's the thing -- I had time in the middle of a weekday to look at all of the photos and read most of the stories the students had written. This was nice; this was how life should be.

Yes, I like the perks being a wife affords me. I usually have the time to write one post in the morning after breakfast and one it the evening after dinner. On Monday, I plan to start swimming with the free YMCA membership my volunteer status affords me. I need to fit a walking routine into my schedule. (This task always gets put on the back burner for some reason). Its a nice life, if you can afford it. I myself cannot afford to be on this sabbatical indefinitely. I will have to go back to school full-time once I return to California so that eventually I can land a decent paying job. But my sister-in-law remarked, as she hopped out of the car, that she is sure going to miss me (and the little things I have been able to do for her) once I go back to California. I think every one should have a "wife", to do all of those little things that those who work full-time never have enough time to do. I certainly could have used a wife when I was working 14 hour hour days as a accountant for a publicly traded company the last 15 years of my life.

As I was leaving the library the other day, it struck me that we should all have "wives" and sabbaticals (and robots that vaccum the floors). That would make life more enjoyable for all of us, a better way towards "full employment". Do you think anyone would want to hire me as a "wife"? And therein lies the rub; no one is used to paying a decent salary for having one.