Day 8 of my Sabbatical
I bet you think that by 8 days into my domestic sabbatical I'd be sneaking around the house at two in the morning putting things back in their proper places... but NO! I have stayed strong. In an effort to pull the blinders off Big V's eyes and show him that indeed, my role in the household is a lot more difficult than "it only takes twenty minutes to do the dishes" I have refrained from conducting any sort of domestic duty (except for once when I dusted, but that was because he reaminded me - over and over and over again - that he helped me when I was the one in charge).
This past Memorial Day weekend my extended family and I went to my 91-year old grandmother's house to perform a mini extreme home makeover. It was necessary it so many ways. I personally spent two days scrubbing every nook and cranny in her house, including a much neglected bathroom. (Look, I'm not judging - my time will come, but it was SO GROSS!) Big V did manly macho stuff like shoveling landscaping and dismantling an unused satellite dish. Dotter helped pick up paint chips that were being scraped and had floated to the ground (nothing like a little lead paint to build up some immunities) and even picked up a small roller to paint the worn out home. Jelly Bean... well, you know, she's too cute too work. It would have messed up her hair. She did kindof, sortof watch the little kids when she was interested.
Driving home after the second day of the mini makeover Big V announced that he had lots to do at home still, and it sucks working all day and then having to come home to even more work at home. I nodded with faked empathy.
Once home he tried in vain to get the girls to pick up a few things and help him out... asking Bean to sweep, her complaining she was so tired and it wasn't fair and why did she have to do all the work around here? His temper flaired, she ran into her room in her obligatory huff of teen angst and slammed the door, he did it himself. Dotter whining that she was hungry and didn't want a frozen pizza, she wanted good food - like McDonald's. V explaining he wasn't going to McDonald's that we had food here -- but it's so gross!
Collapsing into bed he said he was now getting to see what I was up against and what I went through each day. That he certainly had a better appreciation for the stress I had to handle each and every day. And, like the loving partner I am, I turned to him, kissed him gently, and said, "Thank you. That's all I wanted. And in 22 more days we'll figure out a way to make it more balanced."
This past Memorial Day weekend my extended family and I went to my 91-year old grandmother's house to perform a mini extreme home makeover. It was necessary it so many ways. I personally spent two days scrubbing every nook and cranny in her house, including a much neglected bathroom. (Look, I'm not judging - my time will come, but it was SO GROSS!) Big V did manly macho stuff like shoveling landscaping and dismantling an unused satellite dish. Dotter helped pick up paint chips that were being scraped and had floated to the ground (nothing like a little lead paint to build up some immunities) and even picked up a small roller to paint the worn out home. Jelly Bean... well, you know, she's too cute too work. It would have messed up her hair. She did kindof, sortof watch the little kids when she was interested.
Driving home after the second day of the mini makeover Big V announced that he had lots to do at home still, and it sucks working all day and then having to come home to even more work at home. I nodded with faked empathy.
Once home he tried in vain to get the girls to pick up a few things and help him out... asking Bean to sweep, her complaining she was so tired and it wasn't fair and why did she have to do all the work around here? His temper flaired, she ran into her room in her obligatory huff of teen angst and slammed the door, he did it himself. Dotter whining that she was hungry and didn't want a frozen pizza, she wanted good food - like McDonald's. V explaining he wasn't going to McDonald's that we had food here -- but it's so gross!
Collapsing into bed he said he was now getting to see what I was up against and what I went through each day. That he certainly had a better appreciation for the stress I had to handle each and every day. And, like the loving partner I am, I turned to him, kissed him gently, and said, "Thank you. That's all I wanted. And in 22 more days we'll figure out a way to make it more balanced."
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