Julie Seedorf’s column appears in the Tribune every Monday.

It has been a long time since I considered myself a domestic engineer. I was never very good at the domestic part of the career. Yes, I cooked, I cleaned and I took care of my family. I loved the part about taking care of my kids, but I suspect I am like my mother — who did what she had to do but would have rather been doing other things.

My mother was a busy woman. She did the cooking and cleaning and gardening for both my dad and me, and my grandmother and my uncle. In those days there was so much more to it than now, because she didn’t have all the fancy gadgets available in 2016 to help us.

There were wringer washers, clotheslines for dryers, and food was pretty much made from scratch. Every Saturday was baking day and I still remember the chocolate cakes she made for me in my little play tin. Saturday was a special day.

Not only did my mom take care of the house and us, she also was the bookkeeper and order person for her and my dad’s shoe store. It was a busy business. My dad was the front man and always in the store taking care of customers. My mom took care of the nitty gritty of the business, but I don’t think any of us realized it at the time. She was the reason the business ran smoothly. My dad took many coffee breaks, but you could always find my mom either at home, at her mother’s taking care of them or at the shoe store working. It was what women did in those days without a second thought. And she was pretty much in charge of me in my youth. My dad was the fun dad and my mom was the one that made decisions about what I could and could not do.

On the domestic engineer side, the housekeeping went by the wayside. There was not time and dad wasn’t very good at helping out. I love my dad, don’t get me wrong, but in those days it wasn’t what men did. He would come home from a day of work and expect supper on the table, even though my mom had been right there at the store with him all afternoon.

This week I got to speak to a wonderful group in the community of Albert Lea and they call themselves the domestic engineers. As a group they have been together  50 years. It was a picnic, so the husbands were invited. I immediately felt at home with this group of people. It was evident they worked hard throughout their lives and many of the women also held down jobs, along with taking care of their house and their family.

I researched domestic engineers. According to my research, those who were domestic engineers for the ’50s, ’60s and later had many skills. They are multi-tasking and versatile. Among their duties are chef, event planner, teacher, accountant, chauffer. They are ones who execute the household chores, which include dusting, washing and scrubbing, vacuuming and cleaning the living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. They are in charge of food preparation and buying the food. Also included in their duties are heavy chores, gardening, urgent affairs and disciplining children, along with hosting parties. They must be willing to be on call 24 hours a day. Domestic engineers must possess patience and physical stamina to keep the energy and passion for their line of work.  Yes, folks, that is the way it was. And this group of domestic engineers bonded together to support one another through the ups and downs and became lifelong friends. These women worked hard.

In 2016, life has changed and men and fathers help out with the chores. They get up with the kids at night. They wash clothes and make meals.  I am proud of the way my sons and my son-in-law step up with cleaning, cooking and all around household duties.

I added up the median income for all the jobs the women of yesterday did and in 2016, if they were paid, the husbands would have to shell out at least $185,000 a year if they hired all these duties out.

This group of domestic engineers and their husbands were all smiles. They shared that they didn’t always feel appreciated or have a good attitude about what they were doing, but looking back they know now they were rewarded with hugs, kisses and smiles from their families — seeing their families grow, passing along to their children that love is a gift. They know now they were rewarded beyond any monetary means and looking around at their friendships, I would have to agree.