The Good Wife

When my dad retired in 2004, 4 years before my mother, he kept himself busy doing all sorts of tasks (in addition to teaching education at a local college). My mother would comment, "He makes a great wife."

He did the laundry, the dishes, the random errands...pretty much everything except the cooking. He will readily admit that he is not and will never be a chef. And my mom is okay with that, as she is an excellent cook.

The other day at a Memorial Day celebration a friend commented that her husband also was a "good wife." I believe this was mostly in reference to the fact that he did most of the cooking, but I am sure he helps out in lots of other ways.

The Hoos is a great husband (and fantastic daddy, but that goes without saying). He brings home (most of) the family bacon, is an attentive father, shares dish and bath duty and plays an active role in all parenting (natch). He also handles day care drop off duty and the morning routine.

I would venture to say that the Hoos would say that I am a good wife. Probably because I do a lot of the day-to-day management of our home (bills, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, etc.) but, to be honest, this is more a function of time. I work part-time and pick the girls up from day care a couple of hours before he arrives home. This is likely the reason that my dad was a good wife. Now that my mom is also retired, he is probably still a great husband, but not necessary as a good wife.

Given the opportunity, I still don't think the Hoos would want to be a good wife. Sure he would want more time in his life (and especially less time at work), and I doubt he would shirk the title because of the feminine connotation (I bet he would look smoking in a frilly apron), but because being a good wife is a lot of work.

That being said, I could use a few good wives.