Many years ago the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Phyllis
McGinley wrote Sixpence in her Shoe (1964), celebrating the joys of home and
family life. The book would have been received warmly in the fifties, but at
the time it was published the women’s liberation movement was underway. Women
readers and reviewers were more receptive to Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and Helen Gurley
Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl than
to McGinley’s book, and she suffered a great deal of criticism from academics
and fellow writers.
Though out of sync with the national women’s mood at the time, McGinley’s book was
a persuasive, well written argument for cultivating traditional values. Young
women of today who grew up hearing the complaints of us old feminists would
probably find it more appealing than we did.
I especially recall McGinley’s comments about falling in
love with a house. That may explain my sudden recent purchase of a home. I had
just sold my house in Placerville, which
had never been more than a pied à terre, and planned to be on the road in the
RV for a long time.
But then my Realtor called to tell me about an “adorable”
little house in Pollock Pines, just a few miles from my companion’s off-grid
home, that had just appeared on the
market. I drove past the house and was hooked. She was right—the house is
adorable, and is surrounded with enormous pines, redwoods, and dogwoods. Built
in 1970, it has the charm of an older home and the conveniences of a recent
one. It even has the ideal kitchen—not too small, not too large, and arranged
in an efficient U shape—with a greenhouse window where I can grow some herbs
and flowers. I made an immediate offer that the owners accepted. In just a week
escrow will close, and I can move in.
I am not a good cook, and that is unlikely to change. But, baking
some cookies or other simple foods while listening to music will be enjoyable
in this kitchen. There is a small, hospitable-looking front porch where I can
sit and chat with neighbors. Books (not only those on my Nook, but also books
printed on real paper, with underlining and a few coffee stains) will be
everywhere.
Finding the right balance between a career and other
“outside” interests and family life has never been easy for any woman. Though I
am somewhat embittered by my own experiences in the workplace, and am very much
a feminist, I also cherish the domestic life.
This is not a rejection of the RV life. I will continue
traveling as long as I can! Travel is one of the great joys of life, and
probably I will have only a few more years to indulge in it comfortably. But,
now I can also look forward to returning to this home, where I can enjoy the
satisfactions of domestic life.
