First lady

Jon and I just finished watching the final episode of _The West Wing_. We’ve been watching this TV show (on DVD) about life at the White House for over a year (cramming seven years’ broadcasts into one), so we’ve been thinking about it a lot. This prompted Jon to ask me the other day, “What would you do if you were First Lady?” Interesting question.

p{color:gray}. Photo: Vote Lucy for First Baby!

In the final season, Helen Santos (wife of presidential candidate Matt Santos) wrestles through her feelings about life as the First Lady and First Family. Jon and I had already had a discussion in which I made clear that I would never, ever want to be President myself, but I never excluded the First Lady idea.

As I’ve considered the question, I’ve been feeling pretty shallow, frankly. I feel like I should come up with some gargantuan, world-saving plans. The sticking point is that I’m pretty sure the problems of our world are way more complex than can be solved by the plans I thought up this afternoon.

A few years ago, Jon and I were at “an InterVarsity conference that he was directing”:http://followingchrist.org/ when a major speaker came up with an idea during her talk that ended up having unfortunate consequences. In encouraging the audience to consider keeping a Sabbath (that day being a Sunday), she entreated them to put the “do not disturb” signs on their doors so that the hotel maids could have the day off, too. What she didn’t know was that the “do not disturb” sign causes more work for the staff, checking back at the room several times and then filling out forms reporting this. It seemed like this gesture would help the hotel staff to put their feet up, but it actually caused a lot of problems for them (and damage control for the conference staff).

The point of this story: I am pretty sure that my Monday-afternoon-born world-changing ideas would end up having similarly unintended consequences. But I did have a few other, somewhat more shallow, visions of what life would entail were I to serve our country as its First Lady. Read them with a grain of salt:

*If I were First Lady, I would…*
* find all the smart people I possibly could to advise me. I’d want to do some good in the world, but I’d need some help figuring out where to begin.
* take regular retreats (this would help with the above problem).
* hire my fantastic therapist to be a Special Counselor (literally!) to the First Lady.
* hire a cook to make healthy, meals so that I can lose my last 4.5 pregnancy pounds.
* make the White House staff take vacations regularly and eat real food.
* get a better haircut.
* get a dog.
* invite Bono over for dinner (with Jon too, of course!)

*I would love…*
* having someone else clean the house
* having someone else take care of that dog we just got (which is why we don’t have one now)
* having other people around to help play with Lucy
* having a personal secretary to index my Martha Stewart _Everyday Food_ magazines and enter receipts into our accounting system
* asking someone else to draw a hot bath for me
* swimming in an in-house pool (there must be a pool in the White House, right?)
* the fabulous clothes (I’d insist on finding some “Jackie-O sunglasses”:/news/2007/little-nubbins/)

*I would hate…*
* Jon’s working long hours as Leader of the Free World
* not spending hours on end playing with Lucy
* being scrutinized
* needing to take the Secret Service along every time we go for a walk
* all the schmoozing
* feeling embarrassed when I trip (which I do somewhat often, but no one is looking right now)

*Would I…?*
* wear high heels and pantyhose?
* sing in a choir?
* have to go back on antidepressants from all the stress?
* still listen to Agatha Christie novels on my iPod?
* get better at saying “no” to people?
* garden?

*I would still…*
* feel conflicted about the balance of work and mothering
* want to cook yummy meals
* have to count Weight Watchers points sometimes
* want to write on our blog
* try to read the Bible every day and keep my journal going

All in all, I’m really glad Jon isn’t running for president anytime soon. And now that I think of it, I might just ask him to draw a hot bath for me sometime!