It is at this most festive time of the rolling year that I find portion control at the dining room table most challenging.\u00a0 This morning Camera Girl is making apple, pumpkin and coconut custard pies for the Thanksgiving Day feast.\u00a0 And so, I find myself standing over her shoulder watching the process with the sense of ownership and the pride that entails.\u00a0 I asked her if she\u2019d ever heard the term trad-wife and she responded with a scowl that I could almost feel in my own face.\u00a0 She shook her head and told me to get the hell out of the kitchen until the pies were out of the oven.\u00a0 I think she feared that my comments would have an unhealthy effect on the flavor of her desserts.\u00a0 Not wishing to cause her undue stress at this very delicate point in the holiday preparations I forbore to grant her somewhat rude request and left with incredible dignity and obvious grace.\u00a0 Noblesse oblige you know.<\/p>\n
It’s interesting to note that the rapid degeneration of female culture now forces the invention of a new label for what used to be the normal skill set of an adult married woman.\u00a0 Well, maybe rapid is just my perspective as an old guy.\u00a0 What I think of as normal has been under attack since the 1960\u2019s.\u00a0 And now their granddaughters wouldn\u2019t know a rolling pin from a road flare.\u00a0 And so, we\u2019ve reached a stage where a \u201ctrad-wife\u201d has become a commodity so valuable that to quote the Bible:<\/p>\n
\u201cProverbs 31:10-31<\/strong><\/p>\n King James Version<\/strong><\/p>\n 10\u00a0<\/sup>Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.<\/strong><\/p>\n 11\u00a0<\/sup>The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.<\/strong><\/p>\n 12\u00a0<\/sup>She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.<\/strong><\/p>\n 13\u00a0<\/sup>She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.<\/strong><\/p>\n 14\u00a0<\/sup>She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.<\/strong><\/p>\n 15\u00a0<\/sup>She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.<\/strong><\/p>\n 16\u00a0<\/sup>She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.<\/strong><\/p>\n 17\u00a0<\/sup>She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.<\/strong><\/p>\n 18\u00a0<\/sup>She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.<\/strong><\/p>\n 19\u00a0<\/sup>She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.<\/strong><\/p>\n 20\u00a0<\/sup>She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.<\/strong><\/p>\n 21\u00a0<\/sup>She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.<\/strong><\/p>\n 22\u00a0<\/sup>She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.<\/strong><\/p>\n 23\u00a0<\/sup>Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.<\/strong><\/p>\n 24\u00a0<\/sup>She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.<\/strong><\/p>\n 25\u00a0<\/sup>Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.<\/strong><\/p>\n 26\u00a0<\/sup>She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.<\/strong><\/p>\n 27\u00a0<\/sup>She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.<\/strong><\/p>\n 28\u00a0<\/sup>Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.<\/strong><\/p>\n 29\u00a0<\/sup>Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.<\/strong><\/p>\n 30\u00a0<\/sup>Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the\u00a0Lord, she shall be praised.<\/strong><\/p>\n 31\u00a0<\/sup>Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n To be fair, I\u2019ve never seen her producing any tapestries or linen.\u00a0 And I\u2019m pretty sure she doesn\u2019t even know what a distaff is.\u00a0 But she did sew the seam on the change pocket in my jeans last week so maybe that\u2019s close to rubies or at least emeralds, I think.\u00a0 And she does get up really early to walk the dogs.\u00a0 As far as sitting with the elders, I was hanging out with the duffers at the Grange during the election meeting and some of them recognized me so I\u2019ll give her that.\u00a0 But I definitely don\u2019t think that part about, \u201cShe openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness<\/strong>\u201d is way off.\u00a0 I think the law of sarcasm is closer to the actual situation.<\/p>\n But she has transferred some of these skills like cooking and household economy to her daughters so that\u2019s very praiseworthy but honestly, I don\u2019t think either I or my daughters have used the term \u201cblessed<\/strong>\u201d for Camera Girl.\u00a0 Annoying is the term that trips off my tongue because she accompanies all her accomplishments with a decidedly critical eye for comparison with my own efforts.<\/p>\n And in this she is obviously very unfair.\u00a0 I may not cook the feast but I often carry the grocery bags from the car to the kitchen.\u00a0 Surely the Bible has something good to say for the husband who does stuff.\u00a0 So, what am I wood?\u00a0 Maybe rubies aren\u2019t the correct and gender specific analogy of my value.\u00a0 How about austenitic stainless steel or even Hastelloy 276 or some other corrosion resistant metal.\u00a0 Maybe even platinum!\u00a0 That\u2019s even better than boring rubies.\u00a0 You\u2019d think God being a man would have given us a few choice proverbs of our own to put these women in their place.\u00a0 Am I wrong?\u00a0 But I digress.<\/p>\n So, despite the annoyingness of the traditional wife, it is undeniable that she is the foundation of the family and of all functional human existence.\u00a0 Without a doubt the destruction of our society has been programmed with the elimination of good women and their replacement by career women defined by their barrenness, lack of domestic instincts and their proclivity for collecting cats.\u00a0 Without a doubt the males of this generation also bear a heavy responsibility for the current degeneracy of our culture.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll save that for a different rant.<\/p>\n Today I\u2019ll just end with praise for Camera Girl.\u00a0 Well done Camera Girl.\u00a0 And save that little extra portion of coconut custard pie for the two o\u2019clock coffee bread today.\u00a0 I feel I need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is at this most festive time of the rolling year that I find portion control at the dining room table most challenging.\u00a0 This morning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2860],"tags":[4332,2341,4213],"class_list":["post-26405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-reclaiming-the-family","tag-trad-wife","tag-traditional-family","tag-traditional-values"],"yoast_head":"\n