Hee, Calli. My folks "retired" but it was to work the coffee fields. We tried to explain to them they didn't really get the concept of "retire" but they were having fun. Now they are really retired, but mom still does the mom stuff.

My parents were very traditional roles, as well. Still are for the most part. My dad helps out a lot more now, mostly because Mom went on strike for a bit. But his default is to order out if my mom is out of town or something.

Then, when I married Joe, who does a lot, A LOT, of cooking and cleaning and parenting, this sent him soaring to the top of my mom's alltime great guy list, which now means whenever he and I have an argument and I try to talkto my mom about it, she says, "Hey - you've got a guy that cleans and cooks and takes care of his kid. Shut it and be happy." Which makes me grumble.

Or you're being too manly.

Not the word I would use to describe Raq who has both the Va and the Voom.

Nor would I, silly.

SEANY!!

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I'm willing to accept a label of too manly, some days. Not recently, though. I haven't hit anyone in the head in forever.

Meara, it means uppity and poseury.

My dad and step mom retired early a few years back, but they're not very good at it. My dad still consults regularly for the World Bank, and other organizations, on bringing computers into classrooms in second and third world countries.

They're not super rich, though they were doing quite a bit better when they first retired -- they had a lot of San Francisco real estate property. They haven't had to go back to work, but they're feeling the bad economy as much as anybody.

which now means whenever he and I have an argument and I try to talkto my mom about it, she says, "Hey - you've got a guy that cleans and cooks and takes care of his kid. Shut it and be happy." Which makes me grumble.

I've got a lot of MiL support too.

Which, is awesome. I love that he's got lots of MiL support, but sometimes, I want her to be MY mom, not his supporter. Sometimes, I know that what I'm irritated about is stupid and petty, and I'll say that, but I still want to vent a little.

Just realized that this is the third day in a row that I've either left early or snuck out for a few hours in the middle of the day to run personal errands. I love summer!

I think everyone would appreciate coming home to a meal already prepared and waiting, but that doesn't mean it's some sort of entitlement for omnivorous husbands :)

One of my recent favorite memories is from one of the times SA was staying with us. Pete picked me up from the bus stop after work, we walked into the house, and SA called out "Hi honey! I made dinner!"

Being respectful (or tolerant) of your partner's interests is HUGE. I don't really care about video games, but will listen to Pete geeble about them, because they make him happy and that's cool. He has no interest in bandom gossip, but is amused by my telling him what Mikeyway posted on Twitter.