Trading Places

[punkin]

A man was sick and tired of going to work every day
> > while his wife stayed home.
> >
> > He wanted her to see what he went through
> > so he prayed:
> >
> > 'Dear Lord: I go to work every day and
> > put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home.
> > I want her to know what I go through, so please
> > allow her body to switch with mine for a day.
> > Amen.'
> >
> > God, in his infinite wisdom, granted the man's wish.
> > The next morning, sure enough,
> > the man awoke as a woman.
> > He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate,
> > awakened the kids, set out their school clothes,
> > fed them breakfast, packed their lunches,
> > drove them to school,
> > came home and picked up the dry cleaning,
> > took it to the cleaners and
> > stopped at the bank to make a deposit,
> > went grocery shopping, then drove home to put away the groceries,
> > paid the bills and balanced the checkbook.
> >
> > He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathed the dog.
> > Then it was already 1 P.M. and
> > he hurried to make the beds, do the laundry, vacuum,
> > dust, and sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
> > Ran to the school to pick up the kids and
> > got into an argument with them on the way home.
> > Set out milk and cookies and
> > got the kids organized to do their homework,
> > then set up the ironing board and
> > watched TV while he did the ironing.
> > At 4:30 he began peeling potatoes and
> > washing vegetables for salad,
> > breaded the pork chops and
> > snapped fresh beans for supper.
> >
> > After supper, he cleaned the kitchen,
> > ran the dishwasher, folded laundry,
> > bathed the kids, and put them to bed.
> > At 9 P.M. he was exhausted and,
> > though his daily chores weren't finished,
> > he went to bed where he was expected to make love,
> > which he managed to get through without complaint.
> >
> > The next morning, he awoke and
> > immediately knelt by the bed and said:
> >
> > 'Lord,
> > I don't know what I was thinking. I was so wrong
> > to envy my wife's being able to stay home all day.
> > Please, oh please, let us trade back.'
> >
> > The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, replied:
> > 'My son, I feel you have learned your lesson and
> > I will be happy to change things back
> > to the way they were.
> > You'll just have to wait nine months, though.
> > You got pregnant last night.'

 

[roosmom]

Oh Yeah, This is true. SO TRUE.

 

[chicknwhisperer]

AMEN! I love it, nothing could be more true

 

[patandchickens]

Brimming with curiosity to see what ScottyG's reaction to this is...


Pat

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it!!!



Read it outloud to my DH and his eyes bout rolled outta his head

And Ditto to what patandchickens said!!

 

[poppycat]

My DH and I are in role reversal mode right now. He made dinner tonight after I was royally peeved yesterday about having to come home from work, cook dinner, and have everyone complain about what I made.

Ain't no one here getting pregnant though!!!!!

 

[ScottyG]

All right, if my reaction is being asked for, I'll give it! But it's going to be random scattered thoughts. So here goes:

> > 'Dear Lord: I go to work every day and
> > put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home.

Well, duh! First big mistake. "Merely" staying at home is ridiculous. Huge amounts of work, of course...

> > He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathed the dog.

Another reason I don't have pets. No thank you on the pets! I'll be content visiting friends' pets.

> > At 9 P.M. he was exhausted and,
> > though his daily chores weren't finished,
> > he went to bed where he was expected to make love,
> > which he managed to get through without complaint.

I'll admit to being disturbed and kind of annoyed by how these jokes, and TV, and all sorts of pop culture things always insist on the idea that women can't POSSIBLY enjoy sex. I mean, I don't want to get into a big discussion on that, but do we have to tell the men of the world that sex is a chore for all their partners, and their wives are just "doing them favors"? I think that's awful. Sex is good times for everyone! Not always, sure... but most of the time!

_____

Anyway. A few thoughts there. Obviously, just a funny joke, and the pregnant punch line is definitely amusing. I just generally have a negative reaction to the way we always portray these gender stereotypes. Like, I know that many men think "woman's work" is easy, and hell no it's not. But I'm disturbed by how jokes and TV shows and books almost never portray a husband and wife as actually LIKING each other. Sure, they show love and affection on TV, but they always hate everything about each other. It bothers me that we as a culture have chosen to mock marriage.

Kind of like how it bothered me when I got married, and tons of relatives and friends had to say, "last night of freedom!" and "better enjoy your time before you've got a ball and chain!" and even "enjoy the good times while you have them... in 5 years you'll be happy to just not hate each other." I wanted to say: "What's WRONG with you? Do you really think the thing to say to a newlywed is that his life is going to stink now? Don't you think I'm marrying her because I love her and she's my favorite person ever? GEEEEZ."

____

So there you have it. Funny joke, but I'm bothered by the assumptions behind it. Husbands are stupid. Wives are naggy. I've heard those stereotypes too many times for comfort.

But it IS a funny one. Heee hee. I don't mean to be a downer!

 

[chicknwhisperer]

You have many good replys to the joke ( even though it is still funny as heck ) but I know that my DH doesn't want to take over my work here at home. We have more pets then he would like and he never was one to clean up after them. Until I came along his mother had to feed and water his cat and clean her litler box. He is content with his twelve hour shift work at a steel mill. And I wouldn't want his job either lol. So we are both happy working together to have a great house hold. And we love eachother more then words can say. And our four boys would say the same thing. ( even though they think its yucky )

 

[ScottyG]

Just to be perfectly clear... I don't at all intend to be a crankypants. The joke is funny! People just thought I'd have a response, and I couldn't help but oblige.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Kind of like how it bothered me when I got married, and tons of relatives and friends had to say, "last night of freedom!" and "better enjoy your time before you've got a ball and chain!" and even "enjoy the good times while you have them... in 5 years you'll be happy to just not hate each other." I wanted to say: "What's WRONG with you? Do you really think the thing to say to a newlywed is that his life is going to stink now? Don't you think I'm marrying her because I love her and she's my favorite person ever? GEEEEZ."

You know, this always gets me, too. When DH and I got married, my cousin met him for the first time. Her first words were he's an a$$hole and you could have done better.

I was like, Excuse me? He treats me like the world revolves around me and my every desire, and I could have done BETTER?!