I don't wanna grow up--well not entirely..

Remember when life was simple? I do.

-I played with Barbie and bathed with Mr.Bubbles

-I spent more time outside after school than inside, and if I had to stay inside I was active by doing Mousercize or Get in Shape Girl...

-Bo and Hope were happily in love (Had to get my Days of Our Lives reference in there)

-Almost every popular love song was a duet with Peabo Bryson

-Every other song after that was by Whitney Houston

And that was just the 80's.

Then there was the 90's-WOW.

-First of all, who put Z Cavaricci's on and thought those were a good idea?

-Combat boots or Doc Martens ...which are coming back in style-and I only know this because my little cousin was out searching for a pair while visiting NOLA a few weekends ago. Good grief Charlie Brown, what else is going to make a comeback, flannel and rat tails?!

-High Waisted Jeans - Ladies, most probably from the Limited.

But while all the above catastrophes were happening around me, I was in for some good times too.

-I started/graduated High School

-I got a drivers license..notice I didn't say learned how to drive because according to Progressive I am still working towards that goal.

-I experienced my first boyfriend,first kiss,my first unsupervised party

-I got grounded for not admitting that I was at a party, and then got grounded while being grounded for not obeying my grounded rules. After that, I didn't much listen to anybody's authority. Life Lessons Learned!!


I am not trying to get all nostalgic, sit around the camp fire and exchange tall tales of a younger me. But the common denominator of the above was that they all took place in a simpler time in life.

Lately I have been very unhappy at my job.. a lot has to do with the commute, but not everything. See, ever since I was a little girl and would play with the aforementioned Barbie dolls, I always had a dilemma on which Barbie to play with. Unless they were specifically themed, like Western Barbie or Beach Barbie (Gidget was really her name, Malibu was way past my prime)I would really only play with Regular (whom I made Housewife)Barbie and "Career" Barbie. "Career" Barbie had one suit. It was pink with white trim and she had accesorized with a briefcase and a scarf. At night you could turn her skirt inside out and I guess she could become Happy Hour Barbie? Anyway, I would have nothing of the sort..why not just leave career Barbie as is, and dress regular Barbie in anything you wanted. After all she had a dream house with a dream closet and pink convertible..the b#%^h really did have it all. I remember being plagued by these decisions-does Barbie want to have a career where she wears suits and high heels everyday, or a career where she takes care of her dream home and finally marries Ken, has babies, and has her family members Skipper and Courtney occasionally come and stay....


As I got older and stopped playing with Barbies, I started thinking about these "career" decisions I would eventually have to make. I would always think back to the Barbie Dilemma and could never decide, heels or housewife. I had time, surely I had time to decide these things.


Fast Forward to my first counselor visit in JD at LSU: "What would you like to declare as a major?" "Undecided." I have time, I have time.


72 hours of college credit under my belt, two 1/2 majors later, starting to get in panic mode. I should have flipped a frikin coin.


Present day. I most definitely have made my decision. I would like to be Betty Draper Barbie. But poor decisions and bad economy have forced me to become Melanie Griffith Barbie minus the Harrison Ford.


I admire those women who truly can juggle it all. Those who can have a career that requires you to wear panty hose and maintain a home/family takes a lot. But again, my idea of career and homemaker are both on the extreme side and the idea of what a career should be is subjective.

I strive to be the best wife that I can be. I would love to have supper on the table, clothes washed and folded, and the house immaculate. But the reality is, I leave before him and he gets home before I do. I still am the one to come home and cook, and clean, and nurture. I mean if I could do it all, I would. I just plain and simply do not have that much energy to have two careers. Furthermore, I don't think Barbie did either. That is why Mattell marketed different types.

Think about it:

Barbie may have had a dream house, but who cleaned it while career Barbie was at work, then out turning her skirt inside out? And Career Barbie may have had an exciting job, but that was because it was fictonal and you could make it up. I am fairly certain that career Barbie's instructions never came with: Works too hard for not enough money 40+ hours a week. Also, will never break through that proverbial glass ceiling because she doesn't have man parts. Well guess what, neither does Ken. How depressing is that??

Career Barbie also wasn't limited to a corporate job. Remember the ice cream parlor? Again, instructions never came with makes minimum wage, don't forget to tip for an extra scoop! And then you had to pick up all 138 small pieces to the parlor. I don't think I ever worked so hard playing and eating ice cream.

While there was never really a Barbie named Housewife Barbie, we all turned her into a Matriarch. She had a nucleur family. Barbie played many roles-Wife, Mother, Sister. She was indeed the "Man" as ironic as that sounds. Sure, her life wasn't perfect- she always had to keep one eye open with that one Ken. The equivalent of Smurfette I suppose.

She could drive with her top down(mainly because she didn't have one to put up)to the store, to pick up her kids, or go for a family joy ride. She could wear whatever she wanted, although mine almost always never had shoes on because they were tiny and bothersome, not to mention they didn't stay on her feet. Bottom line, she wasn't confined to uniformity and guidelines. To 8-5, to no denim until Friday.

Anyhoo, I believe that I have made my point. I believe a career is something that you should love doing. For me, I want to be a full time wife and eventually a Mother. When someone tells you that they are a stay at home wife, parent, whatever...odds are they work harder than you give them credit and never have a quitting time! So don't turn your nose up at those who aspire to stay at home and "not work". Nobody ever said anything about not working....