to be a good wife?

One of my three jobs is working in the dining room of an old, wooden hotel along the lake. I could write a whole post on the history of the hotel alone so I won't get into the details of that now. Needless to say, it's a pretty cool place to work. Anywho...last night, while in between meals I was hanging around the kitchen, as I often do.

Now, let it be known that I am pretty fascinated by things that I'm not particularly good at. Cooking is one such thing. In my defense, I'm not horrible at cooking, and as long as I have a recipe to follow I can make humanly edible dishes. But it's not my strong suit. That is to say, my brain doesn't function very creatively when it comes to cooking. I can create patterns for purses and write music and recite monologues and that is where my creative juices really flow. My sister got all the creative cooking genes though so I get to enjoy the fun things she makes! {she also has a blog about cooking, aptly named Cooking with Cassie}

So, because of my lack of totally awesome cooking abilities, I really enjoy watching chefs, especially in person, as they cook and prepare meals. I'm also a firm believer in the idea that seeing the effort being put into your food makes it taste that much better!

On this particular night, the head chef and sous chef were each preparing dishes so I found myself floating back and forth to watch them in action. It was pretty neat to watch. The head chef at the hotel is only 23 and has already established himself as a talented chef. {23!!! what have I been doing with my life??!?!!!?!}As I was watching him and explaining to him that I'm not entirely apt at cooking he said something that was awfully interesting:

Well if you want to be a good wife someday, you better learn how to cook

I couldn't help but to find this statement hard to swallow. So if I don't get better at cooking I won't be a good wife? Are those really the stipulations for making a husband happy? I don't think so. It's safe to say that the man I trick into marrying me <just kidding> will be well aware of my short comings in the kitchen. Maybe he'll even make up for them by being a great cook. Regardless, I don't think that my performance as a wife will be judged on my meal making skills.

More than anything, I guess I'm surprised that there are people, in my age group, that still see the roles of a marriage in this way. His and Her responsibilities aren't realistic to me. Marriage should be a team effort; each person picking up the slack and supporting the other. Not, the wife does certain wife tasks and the husband does certain husband tasks. I don't buy it and I sure as hell won't marry a man that does. 

I am going to strive to be the best wife I can be. I will love and support my husband in every way that I can. I will bring everything I have to the table and he will love me for that. I won't be a good wife, I will be a great wife; mediocre cooking abilities and all.