Always a Girl

     I grew up in a small town in Nebraska where girls were girls and boys were boys.  My father owned a tavern, and all of us kids would help him clean up after closing up. Shortly after my youngest sister was born, I became my mother’s helper instead of my father’s.  My mother needed help in keeping the house clean, and watching my younger brothers and sisters.  I wanted more than anything to help my father stock coolers, cook at the grill and serve customers.  My mother felt that it was not the correct environment for a young girl to help out in a bar with the rough crowd and bad language that could be present there. She felt that I should learn what women’s work was.  To this day I hate women’s work because of that decision. I would rather go in the garden and dig in the ground than clean the house.   At this point in my life, it seems that all work has turned into women’s work.