January 27, 2007 4:13 PM
Further thoughts on aprons
I know the Apron Power! contest is over, but I hope it stirred up some thoughts about our calling - because that's what motherhood is, you know. Not a job, but a calling.
In Lord, Please Meet Me in the Laundry Room, I recalled a day when I skipped homeschool to take the kids for a day at the beach:
With everyone else in school, the whole beach was ours. I staked out our territory close to the water, situated Sophia in her walker, hauled everything down from the car, and set up camp – ready to serve as personal valet, sunscreen slatherer, weather advisor, recreation director, swim instructor, lifeguard, EMT, food concessionaire, manners consultant, bus boy, interpreter, peace negotiator, psychologist – not to mention lost-and-found.Five hours later, I hauled everything back to the car, strapped, snapped, and buckled five sunscreen-and-sand-coated no-longer-wiggly warm, limp bodies back into Big Blue, and headed for home.
The sun through the window was soothing, and the car was full of contentment. It had been a wonderful day and I was pleased with myself as a mother.
Then from the back seat, I heard Zachary clear his throat, and in his deadpan four-year-old Eeyore voice ask, “Mom, when are you going to get a job?”
“This is my job,” I said, maybe just a little edgy.
But homeward bound, as the kids fell asleep one by one and I was left alone with my thoughts, I began to see the beauty of Zach’s question: somehow – even though it could be hard work and even though I had my testy moments – my kids didn’t think of motherhood as a job.
And I decided that was a good thing – because it’s not really a job at all, but a calling. And callings just don’t look like jobs, because they require more of a person than a job requires. Think of missionaries – for them it’s not about the hours or money or status or rewards. They are just obedient to their call.
I received this last week from Christa, who blogs at Thoughts Along the Way:
Dear Barbara,I wanted to share this quote that from the book "Aprons on a Clothesline" by Traci DePree. I copied this down in November 2005 because as I read it, tears came to my eyes. This quote put in a nutshell for me what being a stay-at-home mom is all about. And better yet, we get a uniform to wear while we serve our families! We have our aprons!
"An apron is like a uniform," Virginia said seriously. Sarah's mouth formed a little O. "You know, like a nurse wears a white dress and shoes. When I put my apron on, it's my way of telling you that everything I do around here is for you because I love you."
"Like you're working for me? But I'm not the boss of you. Am I?" Her voice sounded almost hopeful.
Virginia laughed. "No, but when I'm washing dishes or making a meal or cleaning the house, I think about you and how much pleasure you'll have in eating a good meal or living in a peaceful, clean house. You're why I do all this. Because I love you, I spend my days serving you. There's no greater way to show love than to serve. When you really love someone, you don't mind doing things for them. It's a joy."
As I told you in the beginning, I just started wearing an apron a year ago. It was only after the contest began that I "got" the significance of the apron - how feminism had changed it into a symbol of oppression. Funny how all those little womanly things that were passed down for generations were thrown out the window and now people like Martha Stewart make a fortune teaching us how to do them again :)
So my question is, have any of you had any further thoughts on the significance of aprons? Have any of you tried them for the first time and found them to be empowering? How about the fact that your clothes stay cleaner? :)
Posted in Apron Power!, Mothering | Permalink
Comments
I love it that I can sit down to dinner in it and then my clothes stay clean.
I also like that it tells my neighbors and friends that I'm in work mode.
I've considered wearing it for more of the day than just meal preparation, especially now that my MIL gave me a BEAUTIFUL one.
Posted by: Sarah | January 27, 2007 6:00 PM
Barbara,
I've worn an apron for many years -- mainly because I am always in the kitchen and I'm a sloppy cook. I cook lots, and am not neat about it. Protecting my clothing is a must, even though my clothes aren't fancy. I love aprons. I love to wear them, make them, and give them as gifts and I'm really happy that my only daughter, amongst four sons, always wears her apron in her kitchen.
It is my "uniform" and I'm proud to wear it.
~Jody
Posted by: Jody | January 28, 2007 12:12 AM
Since your contest I have been wearing my aprons more and have also remembered because of the many pictures of moms with their children in the kitchen, to invite my two boys into the kitchen with me more. Because I was wearing an apron they wanted to wear one too, for a few I days I put them in my feminine frilly aprons because that is all I had. My husband said that I should make them some masculine aprons, so I took some old feedsacks that we had came accross a few months ago and though were too neat to throw away, and made them into to small very masculine aprons that they love to wear as they are helping me. Also I have converted an old long cotton slip with some pretty eyelet material on it that the elastic had went out in, into a long apron, and have made a patchwork apron of some scraps of material that will fit a young girl, if my baby (i am 30 wks pregnant), is a girl I will soon be able to have her by my side in the kitchen also in her girly apron.
Posted by: Rebecca Williams | January 28, 2007 7:29 PM
I'm using aprons as a physical reminder of where I am. I am a business owning, homeschooling mom. Too many times the mom part is getting shoved aside as I try to slip in a little more work here and there. But when I put on my apron, I am MOM. (hear me roar?)
It is a physical reminder to me and the children that they have my complete attention.
Posted by: whimsy | January 29, 2007 1:48 PM
What is it about aprons? I finally tried using one late last year - and I find that I love them. The Kitchen Madonna is even heading a move to have a National Wear an Apron Day the day after Mother's Day. My post: http://suitableformixedcompany.blogspot.com/2007/02/apron-power.html.
Kitchen Madonna's post (also linked at my site): http://kitchenmadonna.blogspot.com/2007/01/apron-manifesto-or-how-to-get-all-tied_24.html. (She's followed up with several apron posts, btw.)
Posted by: Kathryn Judson | February 6, 2007 1:13 PM
