佚名/Anonymous
As the movie came to an end the room filled with chatter. The warm fire, twinkling Christmas lights and laughter from family brought a contented smile to my face. The minute Mom said,“Who wants……”the room emptied quicker than the stands at a losing football game.
My boyfriend Todd and I were the only ones left. With a bewildered look on his face he asked me what just happened. Catching the laughter on my mom’s face, I said to Todd,“We are going to go put gas in my mom’s car.”He quickly replied,“It’s freezing out there, and it’s almost 11：30 P.M.”Smiling, I said,“Then you had better your coat and gloves.”
After hurriedly chipping the frost off the windshield, we bundled into the car. On the way to the gas station, Todd asked me to explain why in the world we were going to get my mom gas so late at night. Chuckling, I said,“When my siblings and I come home for the holidays, we help my dad get gas for my mom. It has turned into a game with all of us. We can tell when at mom is going to ask and the last one in the room has to go.”
“You have got to be kidding me!”Todd responded.
“There is no getting out of it.”I said.
While pumping the gas, we clapped our hands and jumped around to stay warm.“I still don’t get it. Why doesn’t your mom put the gas in the car herself?”Todd asked.
With mirth in my eyes, I said,“I know it sounds insane, but let me explain. My mom has not pumped gas in over two decades. My dad always pumps gas for her.”With a confused look, Todd asked if my dad was ever annoyed with having to pump gas for his wife all the time. Shaking my head, I simply said,“No, he has never complained.”
“That’s crazy.”Todd quickly replied.
“No, not really.”I explained patiently.“When I came home for the holidays my sophomore year of college, I thought I knew everything. I was on this big female independence kick. One evening, my mom and I were wrapping presents, and I told her that when I got married, my husband was going to help clean, do laundry, cook, the whole bit. Then I asked her if she ever got tired of doing the laundry and dishes. She calmly told me it did not bother her. This was difficult for me to believe. I began to give her a lecture about this being the 90s, and equality between the sexes.”