In praise of the working woman...

There was a time in America when the woman stayed home and raised children. World War II broke out and men left their jobs and joined the military. For my dad, it was the Navy and for my uncle it was the Air Force.
Before my parents were married, my mother took a job in a foundry where they made metal castings used for the production of bullets and parts for guns. During wartime, It became normal for women to take jobs that were only held by men. After the war, my parents were married and my earliest recollection of her working was from home. There were numbered boxes of cut fabrics everywhere and it was her job to stitch them together creating gym shorts and exercise clothing. She was paid a nickle for every one made and the boss would pick up the completed garments and deliver more parts to be sewn.
After we moved to Florida, she took a job working for a husband & wife team who made custom drapes. He got the customers measured the jobs and did the installation. His wife processed the orders, assisted on installation and my mother actually made the drapes.
By the time I was in junior high, my mom was self employed working as a seamstress. Not physically demanding, but often seasonal and 12 hours a day was needed to complete all the orders.
One of my school friends father was a police officer and he had a stay-at-home mother she was the lucky one. Usually the other moms had some clerical or non demanding job like part-time at the school cafeteria, but they worked.
Who worked the hardest? Many.
The German carpenters wife. I had them make some speaker cabinets and she worked the factory cutting lumber and assembling furniture!
My ex-wife was a cop for a few years before transferring to a desk job. My daughter was in the Army and later the National Guard. She was assigned to detail after hurricane Andrew... pulling dead bodies from a hotel that had collapsed.

In summary, we all do what we have to do and I have always had an appreciation for the working woman!