What's Expected



(Lathe-see I actually know what this is)

Do you do what is expected of you?  Do you expect too much from your wife or husband or child?  Sometimes I feel that I do what is expected of me too much, that I try to please to the detriment of myself.  Maybe the word is pleasing someone.  Oh it's such a muddle in my brain here.  When I was a young girl just out of high school without a hint of opportunity or encouragement of college I was expected to get a job, get married, move out, grow up and move on.  For awhile after high school you could not blast me out of bed and my Daddy tried I can tell you.  He would call my Mother from work and ask if I was up and if not then "GET HER UP!"  She has to get a job.  If that didn't work he would call my phone.  I was just enjoying time away from 12 years of solid school but he would have none of it.  Finally, I did what he expected of me and got up and went to work, at his work.  Daddy owned a machine shop and all three of us kids worked there at one time or another, brother following the career to this day.  I got up and dressed in the nastiest clothes because a machine shop is dirty and greasy.  I would pack a lunch and show up to do a little office work for Daddy and then he taught me to put gear boxes together.  I would do that day in and day out and occasionally he would put me on a drill press or punch press and sometimes a lathe.  It was really great fun, but, oh, my hands suffered.  In the end, I did what was expected of me.  I went to work.  I have followed the guidelines that are expected of a woman of my era, at least in my world, in the Midwest, not California or New York.  I am not saying that I'm unhappy with my life, NEVER, but I am just saying sometimes you wonder about the paths you have chosen in your life.  I was expected to not go to college, which I later did.  I was expected to get married and have children, which I did.   [Hmmm, interesting turn of phrase here: - "Am I expected?" or "I am expected."  One is a question and one is a statement of fact.] 

Now, here I am in my 50's, yes 50's, (leaves a bad taste in my mouth), am I expected to act and assume the role of a 55 year old woman!  I say NO, absolutely not.  I color my hair, I listen to modern music (except Rap-Crap), I try to exercise to keep my joints a moving.  I'm fighting off the unexpectedness of being 55 years old.  I know it is a futile battle but hopefully it will be helpful when I hit the 70's and 80's and maybe 90's.  I am expected to do stuff, to live, to honor and obey...hey wait...honor and be a partner and life long friend.  I am expected to be ME!

(How's that for a ramble!)