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No Deficit At Home
By Patricia Penton Leimbach
"Hey make up a list of what you earned last year," hollers
my husband from the next room, where he's wind ing up his
six weeks' dalliance with income tax forms. Well, let's
see. What did I earn last year? A skilled homemaker should
be worth at least $3 an hour, and she invests about 12
hours a day. Of course, I wasn't here every day and Sundays
were light. Say 300 days at $36 a day. That's $10,800 to
start with. And then a farmer's wife has "hired man" tasks
to lengthen most of her days. I went to work with my
thinker and my eigth-grade math and I drew up my list.
I laid it on the bookkeeper's desk and left. In a
calculated few moments, there was a roar. "That's not what
I wanted!"
"But you asked me what I earned. I thought my estimate was
conservative, considering my education and experience."
"Would you please make me up a list of what you actually
got," he said in exasperation.
"Ohhh...what I actually got ...Well, that's something
else..."
Much later I slipped in and laid my second list on his
desk:
Payment Received for Services
Rendered:
Sunrise over the valley about 300 times (No failure with
the sun. I was absent a few times)
Sunset over Scmaltz's barn
A picture frame of barn siding
Picnics in the pasture
Two dogs working a woodchuck hole
Rain coming across the potatoes in August
New peas on counter, June 10
Sweet corn on counter, July 10
New potatoes on counter, August 10
A banana cream pie (from scratch) from a son on Sunday
morning
Swamp buttercups in May
Rural free delivery
An oriole in the pear tree
Hot buttered rum by a hearthfire in a blizzard
A wrought-iron kettle restored by a son
Lunch alone with my honey on weekdays
Sons coming into supper from working with their
father
A golden ginkgo tree in October
Little kids in leaf piles
Impromptu visits with neighbors
A chipmunk on the back steps
One perfect coal bin full of wood, coal and a neat stack of
kindling (Beautiful!!)
Walking down the road on a starry night
Bare branches against the moon on a winter sky
Wheat emerging under snow
More love, support, concrete assistance, and encouragement
than I deserve
Total value: Incalculable
