In Response:

I am not June Cleaver. I don’t aspire to that image. I don’t want to be a housewife, a stay-at-home-mom, or a "kept" woman. I don't believe it is healthy, or realistic, for women to promote the idea of the '50s housewife as a moral icon. I think women will have just as hard a time earning that .76 cent dollar (.69 cent if you're black) without conflicting ideas of feminine obligation. Lord knows we already spend enough time trying to look like Heidi Klum.

That said… I like to cook. I’m good at it. I enjoy knowing there will be dinner ready when she gets home and that it isn’t take-out. I like handling the annoying little things in our life - the cleaning, the food shopping, the laundry. I like knowing that she will come home to a well-kept house and a made bed. (It should be noted, this is not because she expects it – rather because I’m a touch neurotic. There’s a difference.)

As Ms. has said, I have my own career ambitions to pursue and certainly we cannot afford a single income lifestyle like that to which we have become accustomed. But in the meantime, is it so bad to enjoy taking care of someone you love? Would you do it fulltime if you could? Is that existance acceptably rewarding to forgo ever accomplishing anything more substantial than a really good apple pie? Is pie enough?

You ponder that. I have short ribs in the oven.

~ Miss