Someday, you'll make...

someone a wonderful wife.  Let's start with that.  Growing older (not into growing up yet!), I learned to cook, and do it well.  (Ego will raise its head frequently during this diatribe, so beware!)  I learned to sew...not so well, but my mother-in-law gave me her sewing machine!  I can crochet.  I can knit.  I can do needlework.  I know how to run the vacuum, I know how to dust, and I can scrub a toilet bowl with the best of them.  If there are other gender-bending attributes you wish to discuss, bring 'em on.  I didn't play sports as a child.  I played the trombone and the baritone instead.  The only time I saw on the football field was marching during half time at homecoming games.  I had a double-barrel 20/20 shotgun for a while.  Shot it twice.  Missed.  I take a book along to read while fishing.  I couldn't kill Bambi to save my soul.  After Thanksgiving dinner, I was much more likely to watch the rerun of Sound of Music than sit on the couch and watch football.  It's who I was, and as a result, who I am.  By developing a smart mouth and a thick skin, I managed to circumvent the negativity of that and similar comments.  Now, at the ripe age of old, I retrospect those times and am thankful for two things.  First, as I have grown older, the gender stereotypes have softened.  While males today are still expected to be--well,--"real men", they are allowed to develop their individual identities with far less negativity.  More men cook.  More men clean.  More men scrub the toilet.  Hey--more women play sports!  More women hunt and fish!  More women are mechanics.  Isn't that a unique thought--we should all do what we do best?  Second, I have never understood why it was expected that there were gender-related tasks.  I mean, isn't it a partnership?  Isn't it a situation where the "husband" and the "wife" work together to accomplish what needs to be done?  In that thought, I hope the woman I love, have loved for over 40 years, and plan to love until the day I die (that would be my "wife") thinks on occasion I did make a good...partner!  Cold wintry days bring out my philosophical side!  And you are loved!