HOME MAKER – AN APPRECIATION

MY BEST FRIEND IS A HOME MAKER

My best friend is my Wife and we have been together for sixty years. We formed our partnership on July 27,1951 at my Parents home in Norwalk, Ca. The ceremony was a small family affair which we remember with great fondness. The script for our vows was standard for the time. My words included” love”,”protect”,”honor”,”forsake all others”, and so on. My wife’s words were similar to mine except for the inluion of the word “obey”. I can report that I have hewed to my vows 100% during the 60 years past – perfectly! My wife however cannot make the same glowing report. She has repeatedly ignored the “obey” part. I hasten to add I am certain our marriage has a far greater richness because of her lapse of the “obey” part. I believe that vows spoken today could not be allowed to include the word “obey”. But I digress. The principal duty of a Home maker is to turn a large highly organized pile of wood, plaster, and shingles into a home for her family. I am able to say my wife’s performance of this duty has been (and is now) beyond excellent in all regards. This has been true from the first day to just a few minutes ago. My wife is an amazing person. Maybe I’m biased a small bit in this regard, but if you know my wife you will agree with my thesis. My wife is organized (I need that), efficient, knowledgeable of her craft, a talented cook, gracious hostess, frugal, wise councilor to all, caretaker and nurse, thoughtfully outspoken, outstanding gardener, interior decorator, dislikes “shopping” but is a master of markets. As an example of her Home Maker prowess, my wife has on many occasions planned, purchased for, prepared the house for guests, cooked the meal, served guests, and supervised the cleanup for thirty or more guests. She is one talented person! If gold medals were awarded for excellence in Home Making, she would need a wagon to cart her’s around. What I described thus far is what can termed my wife’s “public” image – what people outside the intimacy of our marriage see. The importance to me of my wife’s part in making this marriage work for all these years cannot be overstated. We both brought to our marriage the example of competent middle class family life provided to us by our parents. Neither of us appreciated the “how it should be done” knowledge we gained from the examples they set. Nor did realize in the beginning that we shared similar standards and goals for our new family. We were just two eighteen year old kids who were madly in love (we still are). I like to say after our marriage we grew into adults together. We are now adults by any standard but we are still growing in many ways. One of things my wife gave me was the opportunity to go to college so I could deal with my need for knowledge and in time become a better provider for our family. My wife agreed that she would take on increased responsibility for our family life and I would continue my job at night and go to school during the day. We did this for seven years. During this time my wife ran the family unit and I was mostly absent – at work or at school. We accomplished what we set out to do when we graduated with a BSc in Physics. There is no way this could have been accomplished without the determination and encouragement of my wife. My need for knowledge remains as strong as ever and my wife still supports me in my quest to find answers for endless questions. We are satisfied with the path our marriage is taking and anticipate the events of our future with joy.