Can I?

I've always loved the Rosie the Riveter icon poster. The whole thing is a fascinating story, from the poster to the real-life Rosies who worked in factories. Click here if you'd like to read more about it. There is even a national historic park near San Francisco dedicated to support America's entry in WWII. I have two tee shirts with the Rosie the Riveter image. Ironically, the image was never called Rosie the Riveter during the war. It was known only as the We Can Do It! image. Contrary to what people think, it was not about women empowerment. That didn't come up until the early 1980s, after the image had disappeared for nearly 40 years.

I don't know why I'm blogging about this. I haven't had a good day. In fact, I've been in a pretty pissy mood. For some reason, many people have made me feel stupid or lazy today. Maybe they didn't do it deliberately. Maybe it's just how I perceived things. I made a comment about a photo of someone who was exercising. I said something to the effect of wishing I could do what the person in the picture was doing. Before I knew it, the person replied back saying I should stop wishing and just do it. He made me feel like I was some fat, lazy housewife. He also made a snarky comment about how the person in the picture couldn't pick up his baby back when his health was poor and how he was in such great shape now. It rubbed me the wrong way. Sure, he couldn't pick up his baby because he had a bad back. I get that. I've had four children that I carried in my belly for nine months each. Trust me, I know back pain. He was trying to be encouraging but came off cocky instead.

Like I said, he made me feel like I was just some lazy housewife. I wanted to say I had gotten up at 6:30am, homeschooled two of my four kids into the late afternoon, did several loads of laundry, picked up countless dirty dishes on my trips up and down the stairs, am trying to edit a novel in my free time, and still managed to exercise for a full hour and a half. After that, I collapsed on the couch and ate a bowl of Greek yogurt with some Kashi cereal for dinner because I was simply too tired to cook for myself. However, I didn't say anything. Why bother. He's only trying to sell a book, which ironically, I own already. I've just been too busy to actually sit down and read it yet. Yeah, maybe he's right ... maybe I need to stop wishing I can do things and just do them, right? I don't get paid for being fit like the person in the picture does. I'm just a housewife. Maybe I'll change my name to Peggy Bundy.