Such nice extension... you could be a dancer if you wanted, sweetie.
Oh Lord, a professional football player opened his mouth and inserted his foot at a commencement exercise. While praising his stay-at-home wife for maintaining the household while he plays games at an elite level, he basically told the female graduates in attendance that they have been sold a pack of lies in earning their degrees and that they would never be more fulfilled than becoming a wife and mother.
I love being Will's mom. For him, I have become a super-volunteer for the marching band, the purveyor of snacks at baseball, and a member of the athletic boosters. Not to mention being his unpaid Uber driver.
I love being Dave's wife. For him, I am and always have been, a wage earner, provider of health insurance, and chief cook and bottle washer.
Ask me about managing TWO jobs during a downturn in his industry, all while being told my career was a "hobby." Yeah, that was a burn that still stings 17 years later. One of my regrets was holding my tongue out of respect when I should have corrected swiftly and definitively. That my honor was not defended still grinds my gears.
My point is, yes - I am a wife and a mother. I respect and honor those roles. But I'm so much more than that. So many other women deserve the respect of being providers, earners, volunteers, and leaders in their community. I just don't understand the sexist tendencies to "put women in their place."
Cheers to those SAHMs who can afford to do so and have the privilege afforded them to do so, who may also find it fulfilling to do so if that is their choice. But don't knock those of us who have found fulfillment in balancing work and family by necessity or choice.
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