Free Form Friday - If They Knew Then What I Know Now

What does this image say to you when you look at it? Awhile back I read a post about equality asking Am I a feminist or am I not a feminist. And it got me thinking as I sometimes do. And my post today is more about the topic of equality and what sacrafices are made to acheive "equality" and how that has been translated into what WOMEN are doing today.

When I look at this image I think...I wish that I could have experienced that time. When getting a toaster from your husband to make his toast with was the best gift you could get. Does this woman not look like a pampered wife? Her nails are manicured. She is wearing a large enough ring on her pinky finger to be noticable in a cartoon image. She has on pearls and her lips are ready to kiss her awesome husband who purchsed her this awesome toaster. Toast that she will make in the morning as her family sits down to eat breakfast together to start their day. Before school, before Dad goes to the office and win the family bacon. Toast that she will make for her sick children when they are home from school. Maybe add a little cinnamon sugar. Toast that she will make for peanut butter and jelly sandwhich snacks when her kids come and sit at the table after playing outside. Toast that she will make after disgracing God and Heavens Angels when the kids are asleep in bed. And you know why this is so awesome to me?

Because in todays world the picture would show her putting a pre-fabbed snack bar in her little ones back-pack while rushing them to the bus stop. Thinking about her morning meetings and the grocery store run she has to make when she is out of work. She will fester with her makeup while driving into the office and wonder why she looks so tired all the time. Her nails will be short because who has the time to get a manicure let alone polish them. She broke her pearls because they got caught on the button of her extremely old and undesirable rain jacket while picking up the mail off the ground in a wind storm. She can't remember the last time she truly smiled and worries every day if she is a good Mom. All for her right to equality to be equal to be better.

I always felt for me that if I were to have children I wanted to raise them as a stay at home Mom. I wanted to be the one to potty train my child. I wanted to be the one to see all the little first. I wanted to be the one that was going to teach the ABC's and 123's. I wanted to not feel guilt when they were home sick. I wanted to be there for them 150 Gazillion percent. And never have the fear of work pulling me away from what I believe is your equal right as a parent to be there for your kids. I'm the woman who is angry with Womans Rights because they had no idea of the Motha Load of non equal responsibility that was going to fall into our laps. Not only do we have the glorious responsibility to be a Mom. We now have the added equality of rights to work so we can support a household. We can do it all and I see that happen every single day. But there isn't a working woman out there, that, if given the choice would choose work instead of stay home with their kids.

Our children are spinning out of control in a world that allows them more access than we could have ever imagined. As a Mom you get up early, try to provide a healthy environment, prepare to go to work all day, worry that you didn't communicate enough with them all day, maybe you send a text to say you love them, run to the grocery store to cook a meal that will hopefully only take 17 min to prep and cook, review homework, clean the kitchen from dinner, change over a load of laundry, make sure that they brushed their teeth, ask them how their day was hopefully before they go to bed, finsih the last of the draft proposal something something that you are presenting to your biggest client ever tomorrow, consider doing drugs but pass that up and fall asleep on the couch while your husband watches ESPN because hey we don't need to talk any more. You dream of having an entire weekend dedicated to sleep alone and cant remember the last time you were actually having fun! And yet the divorce rate keeps going up and up. For what? Sacrafices are being made at the expense of everyone in their inner circle.

So I do applaud you Moms out there who go out and bust it everyday. But for me. I wish it had all stayed the same. I wish I didn't have to feel as though I had to choose one over the other because circumstances dictated otherwise. I would love to greet Geoff as he came home from work in a sexy apron and a drink in my hand, a smile on my face and say "how was your day My Love" and he would hand me a pretty box wrapped in amazing giftwrap and a giant bow. He would say wonderful and open your gift right away. And we would have toast for dinner and sit down as a family and talk about stuff. That is what that pictures means to me.