The Accidental Trad Wife

A not so lazy Saturday morning 

We woke up early to get to the zoo when it opened. We really just want to see the red pandas, they’re hilarious and silly, and definitely worth a day out to see. 

I failed at Trad-wifery by 6:45 as I hadn’t stocked up on cans of Monster for my husband. He has the same caffeine addiction as I do, but I like the peach ones and he likes the white ones. Maybe, we’re made for each other. I’m sure we are, but I don’t think morning cans of Monster are the heart of our relationship. 

We got in the car and went on our way, it’s only an hour trip. We have a reasonably new Land rover Discovery, a car that feels very apt for a Trad relationship. I’m still seeing elements of this as ‘a look’, but I know it’s not all about the optics. It is a work vehicle, my husband drives between 500 and 1,000 miles a week, he needs a big car to fit tools in, and at 6’3 he would be bent in two in anything much smaller. 

We had a lovely drive up, listening to early 00s rock music and talking about division of money and debt. I was in a lot of debt when we met, upwards of 20k. It was suffocating. Covid and a couple of big promotions helped me clear it. Getting into debt is so easy: questionable relationships, bad choices and mostly my pride caused mine. When I initially told my husband about my debt a few dates in, he saw that it could have been a red flag. Luckily he understood who I was, and how I ended up there.

We pulled up to the zoo at five minutes before opening. 

The zoo

If I can give any advice to anyone reading this, turn up to a zoo at opening, on a rainy Saturday, and then walk past the first few exhibits. We were ahead of the crowd for the first hour, with just us at each exhibit. It was amazing. Watching animals just makes me happy. They have stress-free, job-free lives. Just like me. There’s always ethical concerns around zoos, but the money this one puts into conservation and the nice life they give the animals makes it feel morally OK by me. 

We headed to the red pandas, taking in giraffes, dik-diks, wallabys, zebras and okapi on the way. The red pandas took a while to come out, but when they did, oh my! You just have to smile watching the silly creatures ambling about and running up and down branches. We love red pandas, we have a stuffy red panda ‘pan-pan’ that I cuddle with when my husband works away…also sometimes when he’s home. I’m ok still having the odd stuffed animal, it’s comforting to cuddle something soft. 

By about 11:30 the zoo was filling up, still not busy, as it was drizzling by then. We did a second lap round to see all the animals we didn’t on the first loop. The snow leopard evaded us, but all other animal sightings achieved. 

It was a great morning. We were hungry, and drove off to find lunch. There was a beer and mexican food place quite close, so we headed there. We both rated it 9/10. Tacos great, nachos great, cauli wings great, and of course New Zealand Sauvignon great. 

After lunch we drove back home. I fell asleep at the exact place I always do on that motorway, and woke up at the exact place I always do five minutes from home. My husband doesn’t mind if I nap in the car, he listens to LBC, and probably enjoys 20 minutes without me nattering on about red pandas.

Oh yes, I’m meant to be a Trad Wife

We had quite a normal afternoon, like we would when I was working. I was watching TV and learning Italian on Duolingo, my husband was on the Playstation and learning Polish on Duolingo. I’ve started trying to learn Italian for about the sixth time, as I want to make the most of the time I’ve now got. So if I ever need to say “I have a tall daughter who likes salad” Duolingo has me covered.

I jumped into Trad Wife mode at about 8pm when I realised we hadn’t had dinner. I offered my husband cheese toasties, picky bits or a quick chicken dinner. He asked for French toast, so French toast it was, topped with bacon and maple syrup and served with yesterday’s leftover arrancini. 

My husband is now in a food coma snoozing next to me, and I’m watching BoJack Horseman. It’s sad, deep and philosophical as far as cartoons go. I used to have a BoJack quote as my phone’s home screen “It gets easier. Every day it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day. That’s the hard part. But it does get easier.” 

The Trad Wife round up:

Red Pandas seen: We think 2, but it could have just been a really speedy 1
Tacos eaten: 22
French toast with bacon made: 4
Personal Trad Wife rating: 2/5, it was a ‘normal’ day, not a ‘Trad’ day