Well I can't say I am surprised by the comment I received from my cousin Caitlin. I knew I would have to address this very comment at some point. So I want to respond to Caitlin's comment because I know it will be a common response to this blog, after all Caitlin is a beautiful, hard-working, hip twenty-something herself! Caitlin wrote:
" i love you to death and support everything to do but you're a smart gal with a college degree! you don't even want to have a career or anything since you paid for all that school? you always wanted to be involved in music, and i know as life change so does your desires and i know i can't relate to this housewife desire yet...but i don't know. i dont think i could let something i've spent my whole life waiting and studying for. thoughts?"
Let me start off by saying that this sort of comment always takes me back to the women's movement, a movement that was about giving women choices. Today it seems like there is only one choice: Career first, family second (if at all)... try to "have it all". Women who choose to be housewives are now looked down upon by women who choose to be professional full-time working women, and the banter goes back and forth. This isn't an "us" and "them" blog, but society has truly turned women against women. We should be encouraging one another and celebrating one another's choices, because this is really the essence of what being a women is and what the movement was for! Supporting your sisters whether they choose to be a CEO of a company, a teacher, or a wife and mother! Yes, I earned my college degree and I am glad I did! Education is incredibly important! Back in the "old days", and even before that, women had to educate themselves, but not to aspire to be greater than their male counterparts, but to enrich their own lives, the lives of their children, and be an influence on their husbands. Women today should not take this role of influence lightly. This blog was not created to convince all young women their only place is in the home, which was what women up until the 1960's were told (and I am not trying to awaken that lie again). This blog is to encourage and educate women (like myself) who have decided that their calling is in the home, while also addressing the social stigma that goes with being a housewife.
Second, having a college degree today does not equal having a career. When I graduated with my business degree I was surprised to learn that I was under-qualified for jobs I really wanted and would need to invest another $100,000 in a masters degree. The master's degree is the 80's Bachelor Degree. In terms of my music, I am still writing, still creating, still exploring! The business I went to study was far too corrupt and also in a major downturn because of the digital era. I don't need to live in Nashville or work for a publishing company to be a songwriter. In fact, now that I don't work, I get to play guitar and write everyday for hours at a time. It is wonderful. Art for the sake of art is a beautiful thing.
