Molly Mormon

A true Molly Mormon would never take a picture of her baby with a noodle on her nose. Of course, Molly would probably never let the noodle get there in the first place.

I'm sure you've all heard about June Cleaver vacuuming in her heels, hair perfectly coifed and not a wrinkle in her dress. Well, in Mormon folklore we have a similar 'ideal' commonly referred to as Molly Mormon. This mythical woman sews all her own clothes, grinds her own wheat to make homemade bread, has perfect children, always has her makeup fresh when her husband comes home from work, etc., etc.

For whatever reason, I always fought against this ideal. While my sister learned to sew and cook, I took woodshop instead of home economics (ironically, I can't make anything out of wood either). So, yesterday I found myself leafing through the awesome cookbook my sister-in-law put together and copying down meals to go in my meal plan chart. And suddenly it hit me - I'm becoming a Molly Mormon!

• I love to knit (almost an obsession really)
• I crochet edges on baby blankets (can't yet do a stand-alone project)
• I tat (can't read a pattern though)
• I like to plan meals and cook (still not as good as my sister)
• I keep a clean house (I rock at this one)

Funny thing is, I enjoy all these things and I like the person I'm becoming. I'll never be the perfect Molly because I won't wear makeup except on Sundays and I still wear my sweats/p.j. bottoms basically all day, but I've discovered there is nothing wrong with being a good homemaker. I'm far happier doing this than working in a corporate office. Of course, it doesn't pay as well and I actually ran out of pens the other day because I no longer get free ones from hotels or conferences, but my current job is far more rewarding.

Isn't it funny how we often become the people our parents wanted us to be, even though we fought them about it for most of our teenage years? I guess Mom was right after all. Too bad I didn't figure it out sooner, I could have saved myself a lot of grief.