It’s been a little over a month since I’ve gotten married and moved to Texas and I am happy to say that I am adjusting better than I thought I would. Of course, I miss my family and friends, and it will take time to feel entirely comfortable with my new family and make new friends, but overall I feel like I am finally starting to get into the routine of things. I am thankful to have a husband who is supportive and understanding of all the challenges that come along with starting a new lifestyle, and to have a family who is so patient in giving me time to learn and get settled during the biggest transition of my life thus far.
The number one issue that I continue to struggle with, however, is my immense guilt over not possessing certain capacities to successfully run a household as a grown adult (namely, how to cook)! During my lifetime, a majority of my time was spent in school, at work, studying, or taking the few free days I did have to spend time with family and friends and explore my own interests and hobbies. Although I helped here and there as much as I could, I was incredibly blessed with a mother who took care of most the household chores and financial responsibilities to allow me and my sister the time to do whatever we needed to do to achieve our dreams. I pride myself over the time periods since graduating high school that I lived on my own and became more self-sufficient and independent, but I never fully gained all the skills I need in order to take care of a family.
When I look back, I understand why this was the case, but it unfortunately also comes with a certain frustration and disappointment in the school system. So much time is devoted to education, to classes and studying, to working to pay the ridiculous tuition and fees, that not much time is left for much else. What’s worse is that there are no longer as many home ec classes or financial literacy classes and many students graduate college without adequate knowledge of basic survival skills. How does it make sense to finally finish a lifetime of school and not know how to file taxes or sign up for various types of insurance, to not know how to change a tire or fix a clogged toilet, to not know how to sew a button or cook a basic meal…but know everything there is to know about the Pythagorean Theorem? There is a serious flaw in this system- that much is very clear.