Being a traditional wife, or trad wife, can be open a world of creative opportunity. My number one goal is to be a good wife and a good mother, but I also have a creative calling. I’m a poet who dabbles in nonfiction, short horror, and short science fiction. However, though literature was my mind’s first obsession, it didn’t remain the only one. Now I paint, create collages, take photos, and make other forms of art as well.
Being at home is like a job, only for me, it’s much more fulfilling. When I’m working around the house caring for my family, everything I do feels meaningful because I know it directly benefits them. But everyone needs something for themselves, whether it’s a hobby or a volunteer activity. For me, creativity is central to who I am. I feel most alive when I’m creative. Being a trad wife gives me the time at home to write and paint. I publish my poetry on another blog. I also have a chapbook published through a small press I love. I paint and make art and take photos almost daily. My husband works hard to provide, leaving me with time to do what I love.
When your children are small, particularly if there are many of them, you may only be able to dance or sing or write in brief snatches of time carefully plucked from your busy day. But as your kids age, or go to school if you choose not to homeschool, you will find more time to do things that fill your well. Being a trad wife is slavery if you ask the feminists. Yet I wonder how many of them spend as much time as I do doing what they genuinely love.
Balance is required. If there’s nothing for dinner, I shouldn’t be writing poems. But having a calling in both homemaking and the arts is a beautiful thing. After all, we’re supposed to emulate God. How better to be like the Creator than by creating? But it requires prayer, both to guide the direction of your creative endeavors and to find the balance God wants you to have.
Life at Home 