Gardening

Yesterday I bought 3 tomato plants, a basil plant and some compost for my garden. After spending a lovely warm afternoon planting and adding compost to my garden in that beautiful Austin sunshine I go inside to finish my day looking forward to the bounty of my labor. Last night, it rained a nice cool steady shower for hours. I laid in bed, listening to the rain, unable to sleep for the excitement and anticipation of seeing my garden in the morning. I knew that I would see my plants grew over night.

So this morning after making Chuck's lunch and having a nice cup of coffee, I wait for the darkness to lift so that I can take a look at my garden. I hear the birds singing outside and I take my coffee out on the deck. I go out to inspect my garden feeling tiny drops of rain on my forehead and I find with great pleasure that my salad and herbs have grown overnight and my kale, mustard greens and sorrel are perked up so high as if reaching for the sky. The tomatoes appear to have new growth as well. I am pleased with my work and I look forward to the day I can finally harvest all the wonderful fruit and vegetables. We will eat well in the coming weeks and months.

What a feeling of accomplishment. Yesterday was a good day. I will make today a good day also.

The Ultimate Feminist is the Stay at Home Mom

I hoped that life for mothers who choose to stay at home and care for their children would have improved in the last twenty or more years, but they really haven't. Many stay at home moms have the same feelings of guilt that we did in the eighties and nineties.

Really, should a woman feel guilty for making the decision to be home with her children? Isn't a woman making these choices the ultimate feminist the right to choose her own path, teaching her values to her children?

Incredibly, other women who claim to have feminist views are some of the least appreciative and respectful of stay at home moms. If I had a dollar for every time I have heard a working woman tell a stay at home mom, "I really admire your choice to stay home, if it were me I would die of boredom." So damned condescending! I cringe every time I hear those words.

Stay at home moms don't have time to be bored, teaching and caring for their children, caring for their homes, planning and preparing meals, entertainment and family events, etc. Motherhood is a 24 hour, seven day a week job. The hardest part is to stay engaged with a small child so many hours a day with few breaks. The breaks are generally spent catching up on chores that are put off while attending to the children, so what break?

I think stay at home moms need a lot more support and respect than they have received in the past.