What do YOU do all day?

I was asked this question not too long ago and, I'll be honest, my first reaction was to get all defensive.

"What do I DO all day??? Do you SEE how many children I have? Do you think they care for themselves? My house doesn't clean itself and my husband doesn't ... uh.. well. I mean he shouldn't...uh..yep, I do THAT, too."

But, yk, I started thinking about it...is it REALLY an offensive question? I don't think it's necessarily meant to be taken as such. Of course, that all depends on who's asking and how they phrase it, but in general it's a fairly innocuous question.

Think about it....if you don't live someone else life or a similar version of it you'll likely not know what it is a person DOES all day. For instance - you may think I sit around and eat crap while on the computer all day - and you *might* be right (hardly the point..psh) but did you know I get paid to do it, so I am actually required to be on the computer all stinking day and night? Tough life, I know.

In my every day life there are chores to be done, things to be sold, hours to work, shifts to cover, rooms to clean, clothes to fold, diapers to change, children to feed, homework that needs help (the kids need help, the homework is getting along just fine, thankyouverymuch), meals to prepare, phone calls to make, insurance fiascos to iron out, appointments to be made and rushed off to, etc, etc, etc. If you're reading this, chances are you already know what all is done in my everyday life, because you live a similar lifestyle. However, if you're a welder on an oil tanker in the middle of the pacific ocean, you probably aren't entirely sure, now, are ya? I really am clueless as to what THEY do all day, too, so that makes us even.

Do I get bored? Well, don't YOU? I mean - just because you empty septic tanks or tame lions at the zoo for a living doesn't mean you don't find aspects of your day-to-day life ordinary and mundane, right? Me too. That's just something we have in common.

So, I've started asking the question to those around me. I want to know - what do you DO all day? I ask Rob, who is uberwitty and says "Work." *boot to the head* I ask Kameron, who is a Scientist - what do you do all day? I ask Sara, who teaches in an elementary school - What do you do all day (besides burn things in the microwave)? I ask Heidi, who is a bonafide-already-been-published-you-can-buy-her-book-on-Amazon-and-she's-workin-on-a-sequel author - what do you do all day? I ask my friend who is in a maximum security federal prison (we email daily) - what do you do all day?? (You're dying to ask, aren't you? Ha! I'm an onion with many layers. And sometimes I even stink.) I love to read about what all of you do all day because really, I don't know.

The next time someone says "What do you DO all day?", instead of being offended take it with a grain of salt. Maybe they don't know and really can't imagine how you live your life since they're not in your shoes. Slap a smile on, drop your hackles and give them a brief glimpse. Of course, you can always then say "What about YOU??"