I visited with my mom this evening; brought her dinner, some of my home-made Rice Pilaf with Spinach and Toasted Pine Nuts. She thought it was a little "flat" even though it's got red pepper flakes, but whatever.

We were talking old people talk: Talk about her remaining friends' medical issues and I told her about a co-worker I had lunch with today (she's an intern, I haven't written about her before) whose 75-year-old dad recently had a stroke and who is going in for another MRI here in a week or so because they're not sure if he has a brain tumor or just residual swelling from the stroke. Yeah.

So we got to talking about whether or not we'd want to have brain surgery at that age and go through chemotherapy and radiation (I don't even think they would do that for brain cancer, but what do I know?). We talked about a friend of hers who'd died in her late 60's after she'd battled breast cancer for about 10 years and how she struggled to stay alive for her daughter and her grandchildren.

Which led us to the topic of the age at which women have children. I told her about my co-worker who just turned 60 and can't/won't retire because she's trying to set up a profit-making farm venture for her two children in the hills above where we live on land that's not really suited for farming.

And I said that it was sad that at the age where my co-worker should be thinking about winding down and finding some enjoyment out of her retirement she is instead working herself hard for her "children" (the youngest is 18) instead of them going out on their own because she waited until she was 40 to start her family. And that probably if she died tomorrow, the "farm" would fall apart without her income and they'd probably sell the property and all move away and it would have been a big friggin' waste, etc.

And I said that was one of the reasons I didn't sign up on online dating sites, because so many men my age still have teenagers and/or young children they're still raising because they waited so long to have children, and I have no desire to date someone with children for which he was still responsible.

And it was then that it popped out of her mouth.

"It was so much nicer back in our day. The men went out and worked, and the women stayed at home and did their work. It was a lot easier. The women had their work and took care of the kids."

I had no idea what this had to do with me not wanting to date divorced or widowed men with children, and said so.

"The women took all the jobs from the men. If so many women weren't working, there'd be more jobs for men."

I agreed that yes, it might have been "nicer" back in the day, as long as the woman had a good marriage and didn't have a husband who beat her or who drank or spent all their money on other women or gambling and reminded her about her two uncles back in Germany who'd each had other women on the side and made her aunts' lives miserable. I reminded her of her best friend who'd been married to such a drunk that when he took care of their kids, he'd taken them to the neighborhood bar with him!

"Well, it would never work anyway," she said, clearly not wanting to talk about it anymore.

So there you have it, out of the mouth of my 81-year-old mother: Women, quit your jobs so men can have them, marry some guy, just any guy with a job who will support you so you can stay home and do "your work" and you will have it easier and this will solve the country's unemployment problem.

My mom could run for president on this platform!

Oh wait, she was born in Germany, she can't constitutionally run for president.

So anyone out there in OD land who wants to run for president and win, here's your platform on unemployment! Take it and run with it! It's a winner for 2012! Problem solved!