Superwoman vs Superman

Last weekend when I felt so burned out with Amir jumping on the bed smelling stinky sebab baru lepas uk-uk and while my husband was busy 'farming', I looked at him and said, "Nyet, u think you've married a superwoman, eh?" and he just gave me the smile.

When I was single, I used to be a lazy ass. Really, ask any of my friends. I seldom do any housework. I don't cook. On weekends I would wake up at 11.00 am, read newspapers till late afternoon, take a bath and then be a couch potato or go out to watch movies. At night, I could stay in my room for hours even sometimes skipping dinner just to read or be on the net. No obligations. No worries. For probably like what.. 25 years this is how I was! Simply put, I was definitely not the epitome of Perempuan Melayu Terakhir lah...

But gosh.. the paradigm shift after a marriage and most of all parenting/motherhood is just unbelievably intense. The things that a wife and mother has to do.. the expectations..the emotional roller coaster..the pain of childbirth and waxing.. :) Yes, it's a bittersweet journey where most of the time when I'm burned out, I am comforted by the silly lil' things that the kiddes do or comforting words and gestures from my dear hubby. At all other moments however, I am overwhelmed by the physical tasks that accompany motherhood and the misconceptions which awards the ability to withstand physical strain only to men. Is it because we women have the drive, passion, ability and strength to push out a baby from a hole originally smaller than its eye, that men would think that we can practically endure / do anything in the whole wide world?

Really I don't know how our mothers do it. But these days, whether you're a housewife or a working mom, it's just tough being a woman. If you think that you can be a housewife, a carreer woman and a working mom while everything else remain constant. Woman, you're just sooo wrong. Well, maybe these multiple roles would have been perfectly alright and democratic, as long as women have democratic partners as well. If not, yes, a woman will just have to develop her own super powers and in her best ability be a superwoman. Because if she does not, then consider this:

1. Without a superwoman, men wouldn’t be able to flaunt the status of having an educated, opionated wife with whom they can discuss the intellectual depth of the Da Vinci Code, have arguments that involve cutting edge brain theory, rather than the best type of diapers.

2. Without a superwoman, men will not be able to get their children raised in a better environment with minimal health crisis which are prevented because the mother is educated and remembers all the dates for the kids to get their shots.

3. Without a superwoman, men will not have the right to reject a meal if something is off, even though the woman preparing it has less time and more worth on her hands.

4. Without a superwoman, men will not be able to opt out of washing the kiddies' poop, changing diapers on the count of being unskilled, though the woman who does it had no such skill before either.

5. Without a superwoman, men will not have their leisure time with the guys, watch whatever tv programs/be on the net/do work at home for as long as they want.

Me? I'm most definitely not a super woman. Yes, it would be good if I've super powers. To be able to juggle 5 things at a time without having to feel drained or tired. If I have the power like plastic man then I could watch Desperate Housewives and yet stretch my hands to save Sarah from falling down the stairs or maybe Flash Gordon so that I could do the laundry, clean the room, bathe the kiddies in just secs, the talent to cook like Jamie Oliver or paling tidak pun Chef Wan to serve excellent meals for the family... but hmmm.. I'm an ordinary wife and an ordinary mother with ordinary abilities and well, the need to once in a while scream for help or take a break for her own good. So yeah, it would probably take another 25 years for me to be a true superwoman.

Thank God, unlike men, women aren’t that difficult to please kan? At the end of the day when a woman feels tired, stressed out, burned out, with over 10 more tasks to be accomplished before she goes to sleep, all she asks for is a bit of a helping hand, a companion to listen to her whine about the day, a kind gesture, a considerate word or two and a reassurance that she is always loved and that her man would always be by her side. She does not need her man to be a superhero. She just needs her kind of man. Someone who would be adorable and a source of endorphins, and the one that she can depend on as her only source of recharge of a tired day.

Do you think men worry as much as we do? Do you think they too wish to be Superman, to have superpowers for the right reasons i.e not to get hot chicks but to multitask around the house? ;)