I have a few people that work for me, mostly part time. One is a 33 year old "womans" (that's what I call them, womans, wemens, womenses, etc, just to amuse myself) with 3 little kids, and she's bat guano crazy, as in '"chick crazy". Anyway, here's one thing that I like about her, all she really wants out of life is to be a mother and a grandmother. That's it.
Backstory, she had a hard childhood. She grew up poor, her father owns a acre or so, on the rough side of town, down by the river. He's what the local Hispanic people would call a "Vato" or a "Chollo", or a "Pachuco". She's part Hispanic, maybe a bit Native American, could be a bit Mexican and quite a bit Italian between her father and mother. She has the brightest smile and the most pleasant personality one could imagine most of the time, the rest of the time she's a temperamental bat guano chick crazy, fiery, crazy ass chick "womans". Anyway, growing up, her mom left, then came back, then left and back again. A bunch of siblings and half siblings from both parents, a confusing mess.
Her father had an old trailer, down by the river. It was dilapidated, trashed out, the acre covered with old cars, sheds, half finished buildings, motorcycles, you get the point. He was in and out of jail all the time, stealing cars, probably drugs, street racing and so on. And his "friends" scared her as a little girl. Not that any of them ever did anything to her, but they were loud, often drunk, biker types, just sort of scary to her.
The hallway floor was rotted out. Totally rotted out. As in her dad threw a couple boards across the frame to walk on, but she could see dirt. She could look down and see the ground, snakes, bugs, mice, rats, lizards and whatever. She slept on the old ratty couch in the living room as the trailer was small and filled with junk and siblings of all ages.
So now, she wants to give her kids the life she never had. She wants to give them the childhood she was deprived of. She wants them to have safety, security, to feel loved, protected, secure. She homeschools them and besides working, she spend her time with them, taking them to galleries, museums, events, the library, road trips around the area to the mountains, lakes, streams, the forest and so on. She's not rich, far from it. And she would take money if it came, but the priority in her life is...giving her kids a good life, and wanting them to thrive and she wants grandbabies. That's it.
It's sweet, it's sincere, honest, reminiscent to some of a bygone era perhaps, but it's endearing. And its what she wants. No, I do not think women belong in the kitchen, they can do what they want. But in an era where most women seem to be obsessed with plastic surgery, fake body parts, Instagram, parties, hooking up, being self centered and delusional because of social media lies...it's refreshing to see that not all are like that, and gives me a bit of hope for the future.
