Double rainbows to you

Who doesn’t marvel at the wonder of a rainbow?  There’s something about seeing such colorful grandness arching overhead that makes all of humanity stop and stare.  And a double rainbow?  Well, that must just bring twice the good fortune.

We recently spotted this double delight while at our son’s and new daughter-in-law’s wedding in Colorado.  We were conversing during the rehearsal dinner, everyone thrilled with the light rain that was falling then (instead of the next day at the outdoor nuptials), when the natural phenomenon was spotted.  Oh, my, we all gushed.  Surely this portends extra special good luck for the happy couple.  And because we thought it, it is true.

Since that day, this picture has beckoned to me more than once. 

A good friend’s mother was celebrating her 91^st birthday and my friend asked 91 people to send her mother birthday wishes.  Their address?  Rainbow Road.  Of course, I sent a copy of this picture in my card.

A dear mentor of mine recently celebrated her birthday.  She’s given me the comfort and wisdom of her old-soulness, in ways I’ll never be able to repay.  But, she reads this blog.  And, so, I can offer her this double rainbow of good wishes.  J

And, lastly, we just heard about the death of a very special aunt.  As we prepare to bury her and to say our goodbyes, this picture, again, makes its way to the group of us.  We feel lighter looking at it, as if we’re connected, again, with our loved one who has joined the spectrum of light.

It’s time for me to pass the double rainbow on, and so, I give it to you.  Take from it what you need and keep it for as long as you like.  Then deliver it to others who will make good use of it.

 

Sudden Broken Heart Syndrome

Have you ever heard of Sudden Broken Heart Syndrome? It is a medically-recognized condition where people collapse with the stress of hearing sudden good or bad news. Apparently, women are much more likely to be affected by this syndrome than men are.  The results of such a collapse are not good – heart attack-like symptoms that can take weeks to recover from, and, in rare cases, death. So, those stories you hear of a woman getting bad news and collapsing are more true than not. Researchers are trying to figure out why this syndrome affects women more often than men and think it might have to do with heart size and the amount of stress hormones flooding the body.

It all reminds me of Kate Chopin’s famous story “The Story of an Hour,” which I’ve linked here for you. It takes about 3 minutes to read – so go ahead and enjoy it.

"The Story of an Hour"

Then, if you’re still curious, check out the link about Sudden Broken Heart Syndrome and see what you think. Perhaps there is sense in the notion that people should sit down and breathe deeply before getting big news?

Sudden Broken Heart Syndrome

The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar remains one of my favorite novels – to read and to teach.  Published in 1963, just months before Plath’s suicide, the work is an autobiographically-based, witty account of female angst, depression and self-discovery.  Narrator Esther Greenwood is talented and smart, but feels pigeon-holed within the era’s gender roles and expectations.  Encouraged to succeed in college, yet given covert messages about the appropriateness of female ambition, Esther, understandably feels starved as she gazes upon the feast of her future potentiality.  Her dilemma?  If she chooses to have a career, it seems it will be at the expense of some future husband and/or children.  If she chooses to plan to be a wife and/or mother, she ultimately forfeits important career opportunities. 

This book always generates bountiful classroom discussion.  My students tell me that, in their eyes, things haven’t really changed!  Women are still “expected” to plan their careers around future children, families and husbands.  Men are still “expected” to shoulder the majority of the financial responsibilities.  Worse?  Women have a limited time frame to have children and that knowledge is like a time bomb that ticks ticks ticks.  Never mind that the young women haven’t even met someone they’d consider making a life with.  Never mind that they haven’t decided whether or not to have children – the awful social pressure is still there . . . and, like Esther, still threatens to smother their other career-based callings to affect humanity.

Perhaps this is one reason that women still make up only 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and still account for only 16 percent of our elected political representatives.  Because of ancient gender expectations that women must be more responsible for the doings of all things connected to the home, even if they have a career, it is still harder for women than it is for men to pursue certain career paths – those that offer a lot of responsibility, not to mention a lot more money.

What are your thoughts?  Do women still feel this unspoken dilemma?  Do men? 

The Model Husband

The Model Husband 

His pocket-book is never empty when his wife calls for money. He sits up in bed, at night, feeding Thomas Jefferson Smith with a pap spoon, while his wife takes a comfortable nap and dreams of the new shawl she means to buy at Warren’s the next day. As “one good turn deserves another,” he is allowed to hold Tommy again before breakfast, while Mrs. Smith curls her hair. He never makes any complaints about the soft molasses gingerbread that is rubbed into his hair, coat, and vest, during these happy, conjugal seasons. He always laces on his wife’s boots, lest the exertion should make her too red in the face before going out to promenade Washington St. He never calls any woman “pretty,” before Mrs. Smith. He never makes absurd objections to her receiving bouquets, or the last novel, from Captain this, or Lieutenant that. He don’t set his teeth and stride down to the store like a victim every time his wife presents him with another little Smith. He gives the female Smiths French gaiter boots, parasols, and silk dresses without stint, and the boys, new jackets, pop guns, velocipedes and crackers, without any questions asked. He never breaks the seal of his wife’s billet doux, or peeps over her shoulder while she is answering the same. He never holds the drippings of the umbrella over her new bonnet while his last new hat is innocent of a rain-drop. He never complains when he is late home to dinner, though the little Smiths have left him nothing but bones and crusts.

He never takes the newspaper and reads it, before Mrs. Smith has a chance to run over the advertisements, deaths, and marriages, etc. He always gets into bed first, cold nights, to take off the chill for his wife. He never leaves his trousers, drawers, shoes, etc., on the floor, when he goes to bed, for his wife to break her neck over, in the dark, if the baby wakes and needs a dose of Paregoric. If the children in the next room scream in the night, he don’t expect his wife to take an air-bath to find out what is the matter. He has been known to wear Mrs. Smith’s night-cap in bed, to make the baby think he is its mother.

When he carries the children up to be christened, he holds them right end up, and don’t tumble their frocks. When the minister asks him the name—he says “Lucy—Sir,” distinctly, that he need not mistake it for Lucifer. He goes home and trots the child, till the sermon is over, while his wife remains in church to receive the congratulations of the parish gossips.

If Mrs. Smith has company to dinner and there are not strawberries enough, and his wife looks at him with a sweet smile, and offers to help him, (at the same time kicking him gently with her slipper under the table) he always replies, “No, I thank you, dear, they don’t agree with me.”

Lastly, he approves of “Bloomers” and “pettiloons,” for he says women will do as they like—he should as soon think of driving the nails into his own coffin, as trying to stop them—“cosy?”—it’s unpossible!

What do you think of this?  It's Fanny Fern's very first published article, circa 1851, via the Olive Branch.

Wonders and Marvels

A 19th-century bride

Don't you just love Fanny Fern's insights about marriage and women's careers?  In one of her many New York Ledger columns, she wrote, "Marriage is the hardest way to get a living."  Today, I got to explore that quote and Fern's ideas about 19th-century marriage as the guest blogger on Holly Tucker's "Wonders and Marvels" blog. 

Tucker is a well-known historical novelist and professor at Vanderbilt University.  She hails from none other than The University of Wisconsin-Madison and her book Blood Work is a wonder and a marvel itself. 

Check out Holly Tucker, her marvelous book, AND her fascinating blog.  You won't be disappointed!   Wonders and Marvels Blog