The Traditional Wife

(source)

For the last couple of weeks, I have been working very hard to organize Mr. Pudding's closet. It started out with me sorting and throwing out his old, out grown clothes, and advanced to folding and neatly stacking all of his garments (the man has over 90 t-shirts!). For the last couple of days, I have found myself endlessly ironing all of his dress shirts and pants, and meticulously placing them on hangers so that they are ready for future wear.

When FFIL Pudding saw me ironing again last week, he said: "You know, ironing was one of the first things that my wife taught me when we got married, so that I could iron my own shirts!" This got me thinking about why I was so concerned about ironing Mr. P's clothes. Am I trying much too hard to fit into the stereotype of what a "wife" is supposed to do for her husband? Am I forming habits in our relationship that will forever box me into being Mr. P's glorified house keeper?

Upon further thought, I came to the conclusion, that when I iron Mr. Pudding's shirts, I really do it for me. You see, Mr. P doesn't care whether or not his shirts are ironed. He could go to work wrinkly every single day and not let that effect his productivity or self esteem. I, on the other hand, love to see him in a crisp, ironed, dress shirt. I think that he looks so handsome and clean, not to mention grown up! I must admit however, that there is an old school Polish part of me that believes that the way he looks reflects on me as his wife. I realize that this is an irrational way of thinking that has been forced on me by my traditional upbringing. Alas, being from an old school Polish family has rubbed off on me, and not always in positive ways.

Do you iron your partner's shirt?