I’ve been anticipating this latest life change for many months now, over a year in fact. Now that it’s happened, I have abruptly realized that the new arrangement is a very familiar one.
The chickie-babe has, at long last, started chiropractor school. She’s getting up way too early five days a week, and arriving home full of stories about cadaver labs, cell bio and palpation. Now her nights are full of studying and getting her lunch and lab clothes packed for the next day. And as anticipated, I am in the position of “keeping the home fires burning”, filling my mornings with various errands, laundry, cleaning, cooking. Thankfully, I work at home and only half time, so it’s all manageable.
What I didn’t realize until after the fact is that I’ve been in this position before!
Many (many!) years ago, when I was a beamish boy just starting high school, my mother started nursing school. With my parents trying to get a new business rolling and mom in nursing school, I was tasked with keeping the household running. I did the family’s laundry, cleaned the house and ran the miscellaneous errands that kept things lubricated. I kept that up for three years, until the spring I graduated from high school and mom graduated from her RN program. There were times it was a hassle, and I’m sure I did more than my fair share of bitching about it. But in hindsight, I also enjoyed a level of liberty most of my peers did not, and I used that to good advantage. It was during this time that I built my seminal girlfriend relationship *cough*, and then later ended up with two girlfriends at the same time (and practically a third). Extraordinary times.
And now I find myself in the same position, doing the housework so a woman can go back to college for a career in healthcare. And as before, I’m sure I’ll have spells where I do a fair bit of bitching about it, but I’m also glad and proud to be able to contribute to the grand venture.
I wonder if I’ll wind up with a couple of girlfriends in the process? 🙂
I’m already in the enviable position of sleeping with a college freshman!
Good luck!