I decided to type this elswhere in an effort to join in but got carried away! I seem to have lost the plot since then but as I had typed it thought I might as well post it
"I come from the north east of England and grew up in a mining community. In an era where the men dug for coal and women stayed at home looking after the house and children.
We wore hand me down clothes, shared hot baths in a pecking order, working father first, working sons next.
Life was a struggle for most; education for women was not something we talked about. My mother cooked, washed, ironed, sewed, knitted fed us and still found time to care for her own aging parents.
They appeared happy despite everything, were inseparable, walked arm in arm to church on Sundays and they both died in their 70’s,
Me, I wanted something different, wanted another kind of lifestyle. I studied and eventually went to university.
My wife was well educated, we were partners, and we shared the household chores
I played the house husband once, (Didn’t have to get up until 7 am in the morning, did the boys packed lunches for school, ironing, washing up and then drank lots of coffee with the other mums!)
Eventually my wife went back to staying at home, a year later said she was bored, took the boys and ran off with someone else.
Is there a moral to the story, probably not?
Does my experience make me think it is better to keep them ‘Uneducated Pregnant and Barefoot’ of course not.
My experience tells me that we sometimes have to work harder at the things that are most important. Each has a different role to play depending on circumstance
My second wife graduated from music academy, played in a concert orchestra, took her MBA, works in PR and is still a part time pianist
Her cooking usually results in a fairly controllable small fire; housework generally consists of giving instructions to whoever is listening.
We are still friends first; share the things that need to be done, ignore as long as possible the things we both hate to do, then pay someone else to do it.
We both come from different cultures, totally different backgrounds, but we see our role as equal partners
PS. Sorry, I do go on sometimes, I have enjoyed reading through the posts, I don’t usually have time to join in.
I decided to type this elswhere in an effort to join in but got carried away! I seem to have lost the plot since then but as I had typed it thought I might as well post it
"I come from the north east of England and grew up in a mining community. In an era where the men dug for coal and women stayed at home looking after the house and children.
We wore hand me down clothes, shared hot baths in a pecking order, working father first, working sons next.
Life was a struggle for most; education for women was not something we talked about. My mother cooked, washed, ironed, sewed, knitted fed us and still found time to care for her own aging parents.
They appeared happy despite everything, were inseparable, walked arm in arm to church on Sundays and they both died in their 70’s,
Me, I wanted something different, wanted another kind of lifestyle. I studied and eventually went to university.
My wife was well educated, we were partners, and we shared the household chores
I played the house husband once, (Didn’t have to get up until 7 am in the morning, did the boys packed lunches for school, ironing, washing up and then drank lots of coffee with the other mums!)
Eventually my wife went back to staying at home, a year later said she was bored, took the boys and ran off with someone else.
Is there a moral to the story, probably not?
Does my experience make me think it is better to keep them ‘Uneducated Pregnant and Barefoot’ of course not.
My experience tells me that we sometimes have to work harder at the things that are most important. Each has a different role to play depending on circumstance
My second wife graduated from music academy, played in a concert orchestra, took her MBA, works in PR and is still a part time pianist
Her cooking usually results in a fairly controllable small fire; housework generally consists of giving instructions to whoever is listening.
We are still friends first; share the things that need to be done, ignore as long as possible the things we both hate to do, then pay someone else to do it.
We both come from different cultures, totally different backgrounds, but we see our role as equal partners
PS. Sorry, I do go on sometimes, I have enjoyed reading through the posts, I don’t usually have time to join in.
Enjoy your weekend