People ask me what I do now that I retired from education, and I reply that I'm the house manager. That response is always met with a quizzical look which shows me that they have no idea what I do each day and why I do it, yet I know that this job is the right job for me at this moment.
My family members are involved in lots of deep work and connections at this time--they are busy in countless ways, and I'm there to support them. I spend my days answering their questions, forwarding them helpful information, and caring for their needs. I'm working to foster a strong sense of family and positive capacity for the efforts they are involved in. When they move beyond these needs, I'll likely move into another role, but for now I know my role is helping them, and when they can live their best lives, that helps me too.
I believe that we don't take the role of "house manager" seriously enough in our culture. In too many ways, too many people are left without the supports they need including supports for healthy living such as warm welcoming homes, good nutrition, positive activities, and successful work and contribution. There are limitless opportunities for good living in our culture today, but all of those opportunities take a lot of work to access and utilize with skill. For example, simply to obtain a loved one's affordable medicines takes hours of online and real time efforts. Similarly attending health appointments, purchasing foods, and other daily supports requires time and effort, and in today's world many don't have the capacity to do those simple tasks well due to issues related to time, transportation, and access.
As the "house manager" I focus my time in the following ways:
- creating a warm, welcoming home
- creating a budget and paying the bills
- planning family events
- answering questions, helping when I'm needed
- overseeing health care for some and helping out with health appointments/needs
- advocating for political activity that supports safe, happy, healthy lives