I should get out more

I started a pottery (Wheel Forming I) class last Friday. It's three whole hours away from my family — heaven. There are only five other people in the class, and they are all basically like me. Their ages range from 20s (the instructor) to maybe 50s, all women, and well enough off to afford this class. But none of the other students has small children. They have been together in this class for at least one session, and they chat as they work, and I listen. I suddenly realize that they have spare time, leisure, time to themselves. For me it was a window into another world — when you have small children, you are always "on," always working. Even when I do take time for myself, I am likely to be called away from it very soon. And the volume of work to do in my house is heavy — there are dishes, laundry, meals, changing diapers, picking up, vacuuming, organizing, etc. It is literally never done. I am an adequate housewife, a long way from a neatnik, and I could be busy with this stuff all day long. But anyway, my point was that I felt like a window opened into a different world when I was listening to my classmates. It made me aware of how much I live in my own world — and when I get out, I socialize with people like me who have small children and stay home with them. My husband lives in at least three worlds — our family, work, and the fire station. This class will be good for me, I think. Being reminded that there is another world out there reminds me that there are many other worldviews out there.