Classic glamour. Understated elegance. Timeless charm. Totally out of my league.
To me, this picture simply embodies all the romance and nostalgia of years long past. Days when time passed slower. Days when dinner was on at 5 and your husband walked through the door with hat and briefcase in hand. Days when friendship and conversation were shared in backyards and on porches. Days when you knew your neighbors names, where they worked, and what their children were up to. Days when women woke with the dawn to greet the milkman and then set to readying their hair and face for the day's duties ahead. With apron thrown over her dress, she set to work - the housework, the yardwork, the shopping, the laundry, the preparations for dinner.
This vision, while part romanticized and part idealistic, is still a far cry from many stay at home mothers of today. Yuppie moms pull on their lululemon pants and t-shirt and the rest of us keep on the borrowed sweats from our husband's gym wardrobe. I often contemplate doing my hair but then I think, why the heck would I?! Except on Mondays and the occasional errand day, I can usually pull off not seeing a single soul outside my home unless otherwise pre-informed and usually just throw myself together in time for the scheduled appointment. Sure, I'd be embarrassed if my neighbor happened to see me au natural but chances are I won't be seeing them again for another 6 months to a year anyway so I convince myself that the potential humility isn't worth scrubbing my face and showering at 6 am.
Until I stumbled across an article months ago highlighting the alleged Babe Theory of political movements. The supposed theory says that wherever the beautiful women, that's where the the country is headed. Here, I'll hand it over to the original author, P.J. O'Rourke, who says it best,
"It's just that beautiful women are always on the cutting edge of social trends. Remember how many beautiful women were in the anti-war movement twenty years ago? In the yoga classes fifteen years ago? At the discos ten years ago? On Wall Street five years ago? Where the beautiful women are is where the country is headed," said my friend. "And this," he looked around him, "isn't it."
If I would have read on, I imagined he might have been casting a timid look into the halls of my home. By choosing to stay home and be ever present in the lives of my children, and further more by keeping them home for their early education, I am in small part making a political statement of my own by doing so. My choices say that I believe the home is the foundation of our society, that the culture of today is set in the foundations of the family. By making a career out of raising my children and fanning into flames the flickers of their being and becoming, I make my home my office and my political epicenter.
But could I take my campaign on the road? Could I woo any other supporters or convince other desiring or curious mothers to make the jump onto my side of the fence by my representation of my choice? Not with this slovenly approach I won't. If I frequently set out with unwashed hair and crusty sweatshirt and am observed by other citizens, how will they perceive my own invested worth in this calling? Will my corporate success/pregnant acquaintance look at me with disdain and vow to herself to never let me happen to herself?
It's not that I'm actively seeking converts to my way of life or on an ambitious campaign trail to reform motherhood. It's just that I wonder if my own lackadaisical approach to my choice to be home is sabotaging the value of my example. If all stay at home mothers look stressed and constantly twitter and chat online to their virtual counterparts about how stressed they are, chances are other women will not be flocking to our cause that we say we feel so strongly about.
On the other hand, if my belief that the home truly does set the tone of our culture, maybe I should be working to reveal the hidden babe potential in my own image. Maybe by slipping on a vintage dress with coordinating apron and stilettos I can convince the world that the babes are in the home. That the front lines of society are working full time with their children and looking darn good doing so.
If even doing that fails, maybe by daily polishing up my appearance, I can further prove to my husband that going out for a hamburger can never beat steak at home.
It'll be ready at 5 when you come through the door. With or without the hat and briefcase.
*This picture is one a friend found recently in his family archives. I loved it and had it blown up as a housewarming gift for our friend. How classic is it?!
