Missed Opportunities

On Thursday, I received this email in my inbox:

Cory,

I hope this message finds you well.  I wanted to let you know that the Huffington Post's video news network, HuffPost Live (live.huffingtonpost.com) will be hosting a segment tonight (Thursday, March 28) around 9:15 pm EST/6:15 pm PST re: the "kept" lifestyle.  What's it like when your significant other foots the bill?

I'm not sure if you'd consider yourself to be a "kept" man, but I came across your blog and thought you would be a good addition to the discussion to talk about being a homemaker and the responsibilities that come with it.  Would you be interested in coming on the show?

It's very easy to join the discussion -- all that is needed webcam (desktop, laptop, iPad, 4G phone -- like an iPhone) and a pair of earphones.  We would bring you in via Google Hangout, which is similar to Skype.  The discussion will last approximately 25 minutes, will be moderated by our host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani here Los Angeles and include members of the public.   

Let me know if you're interested and I will fill you in on the details.  Thank you and take care. 

--

Athina Morris

Associate Producer, HuffPost Live

To say I was shocked anyone still reads this blog would be an understatement, considering I post so sporadically anymore, but to have a news organization want to bring me on as part of a discussion panel? That would have been fun. Unfortunately, I got the email Thursday afternoon while at work and then went to church for Maundy Thursday service, and didn’t read it until after I got home. Shoot. Another missed opportunity.

However, the more I think about it, I’m not so sure I would have been a good choice to be on the panel. I don’t consider myself a ‘kept’ man, and I don’t have any qualms about my husband footing the bill because both our incomes are pooled into the same bank account. But I suppose, from a homemaking perspective, I might have been able to offer up what it’s like for the modern individual who juggles both a full-time job and the household chores, and how those roles are intertwined between couples based on who is home at the time those duties need to be done. Honestly, this is the nature of most households, with both people working and both people pitching in. I can also attest to when I was without a job and my sole responsibilities were the household duties, to which I did a vast majority of them. Sometimes I miss those days. The house, yard, and garden has never been as clean and organized since.

I will say, that even with all the craziness that trying to balance this high-wire act can be, I’ve gotten used to the fact that the house does require a little sprucing up before company arrives, the backyard will have dog poop, the weeds will not all be pulled, and the kitchen table will still be a catch-all for just about anything you can possibly imagine and not used to, you know, eat on. Would I want to go back to the days of being ‘just a homemaker’? Not at this time. However, throw a kid or three into the mix and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. We’ll see what the not-so-distant future holds in store on that front.