Work and Chores

There is work and there are chores. Work is what you do to earn a living. Chores are what you do to make life worth living. Well, that's my comparison between the two. Sometimes chores are harder to do than work. But most times work is more stressful than chores. Sometimes I sit all day at the office 'thinking' about work and come home and spend the rest of the day 'doing' chores. The thinking part leaves me mentally drained, and the doing part leaves me physically exhausted. Between work and chores.... I'd rather do chores.

For the last 30 odd years the mere mention of chores got me running the other way. If I can't do it physically, I'd do it mentally. Having had maids most of my life then, gave me no reason to learn to do any kind of chores. I got by in boarding school by doing the minimum of washing.... some clothes actually rotted, soaking for so long in the pail. Or too bleached out to wear after weeks hanging on the clothesline. Or lost because theye were never claimed from the laundry people.... Even when I remembered to wash, hang and collect them from the clothesline, they would be stuffed into the locker right away. A rare occasion that was.

When I studied overseas, it was slightly easier since the only way to wash clothes was at the laundramat.... Housekeeping was easier as there was a schedule decided by all the roomies. After marriage, clothes piled up all the time. When the laundry basket flowed over, we knew it was time to buy another bigger basket. Laundry was done only when there were no more clothes in the wardrobe....

Then we had children, after three of them we had maids. Ahhhh..... now I was the queen to direct the maids to do everything I had hated since I was a child. So for the last ten years... I have had maids; one after the other doing my bidding.

Until recently, when Tuti went back, I have had to do the housekeeping. I actually enjoy and find satisfaction in making a home. I'd like to think that the house is never cleaner and more organised than when Tuti was around. Yeay!! I actually asked Baba if I can quit 'work' to do 'chores'. If only I can get paid the same doing chores as doing work.......