Don't Seem So Long Ago We Knew Our Place, Our Duty

As an incoming freshman I was put upon by a senior. He got what he wanted, and I got an owner. He kept me on a short leash, where was I going, who was I with, when was I going to do his laundry. At first it made me angry, then it embarrassed me at the thought that he was going to do his own laundry.

It took a while for me to say 'boyfriend', longer still for me to say I was his girlfriend. He was called a cradle robber, I was accused of having Daddy issues. All I knew he was never going out with a wrinkled shirt or dirty underwear. Once a week, I cleaned his apartment, hung Target curtains, bought four plates, cups and saucers. He dropped me off at Skaggs and picked me up after my shopping was done. I made lists, menus, 'my man' got home cooked meals.

It was that simple. Ingrained from childhood, muscle memory, fear of peer rejection, my man had a woman, not a girlfriend. My man would not, period, do the dishes. Or fold the laundry, that was woman's work.

He married me, right after graduation. Mine, not his, he was working. Granted we lived together, while I changed schools and finished my university. Plenty of time to show him, he may have gotten a girl, now he married a woman. Ready, willing, and able.