A Man's World

I am not a feminist. I am not the wall-flower, silent, submissive type either. I guess you could say I fall somewhere in the middle. I do not have a problem with a woman being President, or CEO of a major company. But I also do not have a problem with a man taking control when he needs or is asked to.

This, among other reasons, is why my husband and I fit so well together. He likes being the head of the family. I like him being the head of the family. He likes that I'm OK with cleaning bathrooms and doing the laundry. I like that he's OK with taking the trash can to the corner and cleaning out the garage. He likes that I like being a 'girl' when it comes to makeup and clothes. I like that he lets me be a 'girl' when it comes to makeup and clothes.

So his being gone has brought a new dimension to my thinking and has caused me to take care of things around the house that #1--I normally wouldn't do and #2--I really have no desire to do.

And today I had to take care of a couple of things that I really didn't want, but had to do.

For a couple of days now, every time I open the refrigerator, there has been an interesting odor that wafts its way to my nose. And for those few days, I allowed denial to run supreme in my life.....You see, I hate to clean out the refrigerator. I loathe it. Emptying out tupperware full of science experiments is something I have always left to my darling husband. But since he's away, I had to do it. I did consider leaving the project until he is home for his two week break in September....After all, he enjoys feeling useful, but after a minute or two, I thought better of it and decided to tackle the task on my own. A major sense of accomplishment filled my soul after I was done. Of course, the dishwasher was completely full of plastic. I think I counted 17 different containers. Impressive, even for me.



Something else I won't do is go under our front porch. Our house is 72 feet wide with a porch that extends the entire width. It's very beautiful, I must say. But I'm sure there are all kinds of creepy things that inhabit the vast space under there. I decided a long time ago if they don't bother me....I won't bother them. But someone had to get under there to get the hose. And I knew it wasn't going to be me. Thankfully, I have boys. The oldest one is just like me.....there's no way he's going under there. The second one hasn't been feeling well and he was laying down. That left Josh. My tough, I-can-tackle-anything kid. I knew he'd help me and sure enough he did. He got under there without even thinking about it and helped me pull the soaker hose out. He's so awesome!

The other thing I did today that I would normally leave to Joe is grilling out. Our family loves to grill, but that's always been a 'dad' thing. But we decided tonight that hot dogs and hamburgers were the order for dinner, so that meant mom got to be dad yet again. And I think I did pretty well. A couple of hot dogs for Trey. A burger and a hot dog for Daniel. A couple of bacon wrapped filets for Josh and burgers for Julia and me. Rice and broccoli finished out the menu and just about everything was eaten.

After the kids played outside with some squirt bottles, they jumped in the shower and will be heading to bed in a bit. I am sitting here watching my Phillies lose again. No, they didn't pull one out last night. In fact, they just plain got beat......again. But I'm a fan and I'll keep watching.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. And I am away from two men that are special to me and to the children. My father is in Oklahoma City. And the father of my children is in Iraq. So, this Father's Day will, for all intents and purposes, be just another Sunday for us here. But to the two men who mean the most to the people in this house............HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

We wish we could be together on this....Your day! Oh, and the card's in the mail ;-)