Letters to the Editor
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Does Anyone Want to Do the Dishes?
I am 62 and have shared housework equally with two husbands since I was 23. Over the years my attitude toward housework has changed dramatically. When I can do it on my own time (and not under a deadline because we are entertaining), I find housework relaxing, conducive to thinking, planning what to write in my blog, meditating, remembering, working through problems. Using my hands seems to liberate my mind. Gardening offers similar pleasures. My abysmal standards help greatly; I am talking about a relatively short period of time. When I was a mother of four daughters, taming the chaos was not so relaxing. Then my idea of a night out on the town was going to the supermarket by myself.
I am puzzled why people try to avoid physical labor at home and then go to gyms instead. I would rather spend three hours doing housework than one hour at the gym, whose atmosphere I hate. I do think we undervalue physical labor and the people who perform it. Neither my husband or I have any trouble getting laid:)