The Lost Housewife…and Why So Many Women Still Long to Find Her

Doyou ever wonder why being a stay-at-home mother was the ultimate fantasy for so many women? Sure, societal pressure plays a huge role. And yes, many of us were influenced by the fact that we were surrounded by other stay-at-home mothers who said there was nothing more important or more fulfilling than motherhood. That alone would do it, I suspect. But even today, even at 47, even after unpacking so much of the societal expectations that I’ve faced, there’s still a little part of me that dreams of being a wife and mother. Why? I’ve asked myself this simple question hundreds of times over the past few years. And I think I finally found the answer… <h1>The World Outside Our Front Door</h1> The first job I ever had was a sales clerk in a bookstore. I thought it would be my personal heaven, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The staff room was basically a concrete bunker — gray slabs on every side, no windows, and metals shelves lining the walls filled with paperwork and surplus inventory. The storefront, so beautifully laid out and filled with the pleasing cover designs of hundreds of books, quickly revealed itself to be nothing more than illusion. Every part of its layout was designed to lure in customers, entice them to buy. My job largely revolved around the maintenance of this illusion, straightening books every ten minutes, creating new display tables, and vacuuming whenever there was a lull in traffic. <a href="https://medium.com/liberty-76/the-lost-housewife-and-why-so-many-women-still-long-to-find-her-8c68a76583be">Read More</a>