However on a good day, when I get home, I do still want to pour myself into a domestic activity...because I am a homemaker. And even though being a nanny is very similar to being one's own homemaker, there are great differences between the kinds of domesticity that take place at work versus in my own home.
It is Friday evening, yes. But I am absolutely doing laundry and baking brownies exactly the way I want tonight. There is something truly refreshing about doing activities like laundry or cooking that I do every day in other homes for myself. I have my own standards for the ingredients that go into my food...for the level of "clean" that pleases me...for how my home should feel and function. And if you're new to my definition of homemaking, allow me to explain.
I believe homemakers are a distinct breed of women (no, men are not excluded, but I side with the persuasion that *women belong in the kitchen*...I say this loosely, yet with conviction, so cringe if you must...perhaps a whole post on this thought is necessary). Human beings need home and woman-begins need to create home. This takes on thousands of forms. But my main agenda in this arena has to do with disassembling American society's typical definition of homemaking. A stay-at-home mom is certainly a homemaker, but who says a 22 year old unmarried woman cannot be? Homemaking includes the family, but I believe just as the word "home" is a flexible one, homemaking should also be a flexible term.
I make my home.
When I was 14 and moving into my new bedroom in the front of the house, choosing the colors and decorations that suited me at the time, hanging photos of my best friends, and every once in a while utilizing the new lock on my door, I was making a home.
When I was 18 and moving into a dorm room for the first time with two strangers, buying my bedding and coffee grounds with my own money, learning how to use my laptop and printer, and getting to know the girls on my hall, I was making a home.
When I was 20 and moving into my first apartment, trying to buy decorations on a $40 budget, learning how to cook without following recipes, and having friends over to "my own place" for the first time, I was making a home.
And now that I'm back at home, living in my parent's back cottage, I strive to be hospitable. I strive to be both a good daughter and tenant. I strive to come home and keep house even when I'm exhausted from keeping others' houses...because home is important. Everyday, I am making my home and I welcome the many, many definitions of "homemaking" that my life will yet encompass.
recipes!!!!
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