I’m all about girl power. I was a CEO and a darned good one at that. I financed my own lifestyle, including buying my own house and all of my renovations to that house. I planned and took fabulous vacations while a single girl and I knew that if I never found “the one” that my life would still be full and complete. So, don’t get me wrong: this is not a diss on girl power; this is a diss on absolutism.
One thing I learned very slowly and fairly awkwardly is that I also love running our household. I derive incredible pleasure from having a clean house and a home-cooked meal on a typical weekday night. I love anticipating what this little family needs and making it happen. I love decorating and creating the feeling of casual warmth that I try to infuse into this house. In short: I have some deep homemaking roots.
And I had a conversation today with my niece about girl power that felt eerily similar. Her comment to me: “I think I took girl power too far. I completely bought in.”
Yep, shades of me and probably some very bad modelling on my part.
Because she – like me – bought into one idealistic and absolute version of how to be, we were denying that other part of ourselves that really enjoys just making home a soft, comfortable and welcoming place to land. And when I think about how much pleasure caring for home brings me, it makes me sad that I spent so many years denying that part of myself. The good news for my niece? She and her husband just bought a farm. So, at 26, she’s going to have considerable time to shed the absolutism of one lifestyle over another and find herself exactly as she wants to be.
The good news for me? I may have been late to the game, but I actually do have time to be all of the me I want to be. I can have all of the girl power I want professionally, but I also have plenty of time to be a homemaker.
Honestly, homemaking is what makes me tick. I love running our household down to the finances and the smallest, minute detail. I love planning meals and while sometimes I phone it in, most of the time, this little family enjoys from-scratch, home-cooked meals every stinking night.
I’ve also learned I love living by Mother Nature’s clock, which I also find to be a bit of an old-fashioned way of life. But there is something comforting about living on nature’s time. Right now, we’re in the “slow it down, silly” time of summer. It’s when you really get to enjoy the fruits of whatever garden labor you put in while also enjoying reliably warm days and the calm that comes after that first rush of summer when you’re trying to live every minute of summer because it’s so short. As we all know (read other posts), I just absolutely ADORE fall and for me the holidays start with Halloween and run through New Year’s. Yep, I allow myself four straight months of holiday-like celebrations, enjoying each part of the season as it comes.
So, for the closet homemaker and nature clock watcher in me, this time of year is just fabulous and most of all, calming. This is the good stuff. Home is front and center while work supports this life I love so much.
And that’s what I’m going to celebrate today. Because I need to do a little quiet work tomorrow, I’m about to knock off for the day and begin my errands to get us ready for a fabulous “It’s Friday Eve!” dinner. It will be simple: steaks on the grill, baked potatoes and a veggie, but we have the fixings for mojitos with mint plucked from our garden. I can also get some laundry going and generally get a few home-oriented tasks done. When tomorrow comes around, I’ll get the work done. But for today? Well, just call me “Suzy Homemaker.”
The Yuppie Homesteader 