Honorable Househusband

I read, somewhere, that expat spouses who were accustomed to having a job in their home country -- typically wives, but not necessarily -- tend to make elaborate meals while living , and not working, overseas.

The theory, I suppose, is that spending several hours in the kitchen every day breaks up the tedium of staying home and not going to the office every day.

It's true, in my case, that I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen, and I do look forward to that mid-afternoon time when I can start whipping something up for dinner. I haven't been terribly elaborate yet (though I have been making my own sauces for pizza and lasagna, so that's a start).

But, am I bored?

On Wednesday, I got an e-mail from a friend back in North Carolina:

"I like the house husband idea," Mike wrote. "Work is overrated. Maybe some day, I'll have it as good as you."

I mentioned to Shelly, completely in passing, that Mike thought my life sounded pretty good to him, which prompted her to ask, "but does it sound good to you?"

It does sound good to me, at least for now. I'm doing some freelance work, so I've still got a hand in my craft, and I've probably written more in the past month than I have in the past year. More importantly, I've enjoyed writing more than I have in a long time. Certainly that's a result of writing for my purposes and the needs of my small blog audience rather than for the needs of an employer.

So far the lack of employment has not been an emotional difficulty.

I had a long conversation with Mom about this when I was in Iowa in September. Being unemployed and trying to find suitable work after moving to Maryland was a problem, no doubt about it. I think the main difference now is that I'm not expected to be able to find a suitable job in the Philippines and, further, any job I do find is likely to pay me on the order of eight or nine dollars a day.

So, for Shelly, for Mom, for those of you who have asked, holding the temporary title of Honorable Househusband is, so far, to my liking. But ask me again in six months.