Gender Roles

Now that the insanity of the end of the school year, one daughter graduating, and the Renaissance Festival have all come to a close I have a moment to write again.  With the pace we have kept for the past few months (imagine it - no more than 4-5 hours a sleep at night for months and the days full of stress and activity dawn to midnight) there has been something niggling at my brain. 

I'm all for getting as much done myself as possible, and it truly causes me physical pain to have to ask for anything or to ask for help, and the concept of gender roles just fried my apples, as Mom would put it. As far as work goes, I'm all about equality.  Everyone does their share, because collectively it helps everyone.

This extended to farm care.

Our mornings begin about 5:45 a.m., and until recently we traded off on who was going out to feed and milk and who was going to take care of things in the house.  I found that quite often, when it was my turn to feed and milk, I would still end up doing the cooking and other indoors tasks.  When my hubby did cook, the oatmeal ended up as paste and the eggs were rubbery so no one wanted to eat.  We would choke down a few bites out of politeness, but there was a lack of nourishment, as well as consistency and creativity there.  (This still baffles me because when it comes to dinners, he's truly an amazing cook!)

As the morning pace became even more insane with kids needing to be at the school by 5:45 or 6:00 am (sometimes 5 a.m. even) the classic division of chores based on gender started to appear.  He did more and more of the morning milking / feeding and I did the dishes and cooked the breakfast and fed the dogs, and started the laundry, etc.

It is both frustrating and somewhat comforting.  It's nice to know that he can take care of things outside, and that everything in the house is running as it should (and that we would in fact have clean clothes as well as nourishment!)  BUT, and it's a big but hence the caps, I dearly missed the soft quiet mornings with the animals.  Despite it being Texas, the mornings outside are still cool enough and possess that gentle quality that grounds the spirit and makes a person feel whole again.

The schedules have settled down.  The kids are sleeping in. The husband is sleeping in. And me?  I'm still exhausted, but I think that maybe I have learned something.  Gender roles in farm care have a time and place that create better functionality.  I'm still glad that it seems that time has past for a little while and I can take up my part in the morning barnyard again!

This morning I spent almost an hour just Being, in the soft quiet morning surrounded by my animals.

Good morning, Penny!

And Ms. Balvenie

And who could resist a good morning from this handsome guy?!