There is no laundry fairy....among other things.

   I remember learning soon after I was laid off from my full time job that there was no laundry fairy. It came as a deep blow to all that I had come to know and expect of the world. The scenario went something like this:

  Husband:  "Honey, could you go downstairs and bring up the wash?"

  Me: "Sure. Where is it?"

   Me: "I am in the utility room. I don't see it."

I

   Husband: "In the utility room."

   Husband: "It's in the machine."

   Me: Silent

   Husband: "Oh, and could you switch loads while you are down there?"

   As I unloaded the dryer and (gasp) put the unfolded and static ridden clothes into a laundry basket, I had the sinking feeling that there was really no laundry fairy.I put the wet clothes from the washer into the now empty dryer and turned around to find myself staring at a load of dirty clothes. Where did that come from? I put them in the washer thinking that perhaps a bit of soap and turn on the water and we would be good.  As I hauled the clothes upstairs and then proceeded to fold and put them away (some of them I had to hang up on hangers and everything), I tried to convince myself that maybe it was just the fairy's day off.  As the days passed, I slowly had to accept that there was never a laundry fairy.

   After that other dark secrets began to unfold. There was also no vacuum fairy. Or Mop fairy. We had no maid, or gardener. We didn't even have a cook!

   In the weeks and months after I was laid off from my full time job, my husband slowly helped me through the trials of domestic life. Hey, I had been in the workforce a long time as the primary source of income while my husband was the "at home parent."  Being a full time domestic came as a bit of a shock. Ancient memories stirred and I began to get the hang of things. I too could make dinner appear on the table at six, as if by magic. Which was a good thing, as it did not look like I was going to find lucrative work to replace my former employment income anytime soon. Not for lack of trying, the market just really sucked.


   And then the opportunity for my husband to go back to work at his former place of employment opened up (just in time too) and I became the full time Household Manager. Various other forces in our lives dictated that I would stay home at this time to hold down the fort. I honed my book keeping skills, my tax accountant skills, my medical skills, my event coordinating skills, my shopping for food with out police involvement skills, my household maintenance skills and my culinary artistry.
   These days I tell people I am a Household Manager and generally get a blank look. So sometimes I try and make it easier for them to grasp the idea and tell them I am a stay at home parent. Generally the response I get is "So you don't work. What do you do all day?"

I

   I smile and tell them that I sit around watching TV all day and eat bon-bons. If they had a laundry fairy they could do that to