My name is Merilee and I am a homebody.
Since we gave the Jeep back to Mom and Dad S (the in-laws) and are only using one car, I have been staying home a lot more. Not that I was gone from home that much before but without a vehicle I am not tempted to go somewhere "just because". I do get out--one day a week I have the van so I can do grocery shopping and run errands. And I do go to church on Wednesday nights for Mutual. I sometimes take CM to swim practice if The Writer has work he needs to finish up. Occasionally if I feel the need to get out, I will go to one of my favorite stores after dinner to window shop and browse.
A little more than five and a half years ago, there was a 3 month period when life was just crazy. The Writer had recently gotten a full time job with Sorenson Communications. We lived about a half hour south of his workplace. So he was commuting every day. I had a contract job with Signing Time as their ASL consultant. We alternated between studio filming and B-roll filming which was in various locations. All filming was done in Salt Lake County. I had two children at the time so I had to leave between 30 and 45 minutes early so I could drop them off with friends for the day and then go to filming. Filming didn't end until that day's planned scenes were filmed. Even if it meant 12 hour days, we'd keep going until it was all done. Fortunately, that didn't happen much. Then after the shoot, I'd have to go pick up my children. We'd get home at dinner time and I still had to make dinner. Oh, and did I mention that during all this, we were house hunting? And I was still working part time as a Deaf Mentor in the evenings?
The Signing Time job was done before the real craziness of packing, cleaning and moving started. During that time of both of us working and having to add 30-45 minutes commute time to the work day, things around our home didn't get done. Our weekends were busy with catching up with grocery shopping, laundry, housecleaning, and doing our church callings.
I am grateful to have had that Signing time job. The money earned from that job helped us with the house-buying, especially since we had to get some more furniture. I do not regret doing that job at all.
It did make me realize that being a mom and homemaker is not a "spare time" job. Keeping up with laundry, keeping a house tidy and clean, making good, nutritious meals, keeping track of who needs to be where and when, keeping up with finances--all this and more adds up to what seems like more than a full time job.
But I like my life as it is. I like being the one my children tell about their days to. I like being able to explore my cooking hobby with new recipes and tweaking old ones. There's something satisfying about seeing the chaos and mess of children's toys getting cleaned up as we work together. I like being the one who explains about current events, the "birds and bees", and our religious values, among many other things. I like ensuring our security through wise financial management and food storage. I like being available to help my friend and ward members out when they need it. I could list many more but suffice it to say that I LIKE MY LIFE.
I know there are women who have to work or choose to work. I believe everyone does what is right for her life and her circumstances. To those who juggle work life and home life--more power to you! And to those who elect to be full time homemakers, mothers and wives--more power to you too!
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