Jan. 4 1976 Random Thoughts

THERES A LOT TO BE SAID...

....for the woman who got married without thinking what it involved.

....for the man who didn't realize how harrowing or hampering the responsibilities of marriage were to be.

...For the woman who would like to be good at something but cannot get with it when it comes to being the happy homemaker she is expected to be.

...For the woman who has lost her self-confidence because the only role she has, she feels she isn't good at doing

...For the man who feels trapped into staying in a job he hates because of needing the money in order to survive, and has too many dependents, and is too old to start over --to further his education nor learn a profession nor a new profession.

There is a lot to be said for educating the young for the most important job there is-Marriage.  How many people truly know what marriage involves until they've tied the knot.  Two independent people with the same residence says little.  There is budgeting, shopping, childcare, psychology, driving, meal planning and a basic knowledge of healthy living and medical knowledge enough to know when a child should see a doctor... or even one's spouse, when their health is failing and they are in denial.

There must be something said for the woman who has done a good job and therefore her family-now grown and on their own-leaves her with much idle time on her hands.  What does she do with her life now?  Is she still important?  Even if she is at times, what can she do about all the time on her hands. 

  [Oh... being now in my 73rd year, I could tell my old self she'll be busier than ever, but doing what she wants. ;-) living proof!  The above was written in my 14th year of marriage to my ex-husband Al, and my children were all teenagers, the oldest young adults but in their teens.  We finally split up -- a friendly parting of ways, in 1980, and going on 6 years later, I had met and married Tom and became a step-mom extending my motherhood to five children counting my three offspring.]