Posted on 12/24/2023 4:13:41 AM PST by cutty
Millennial Aria Lewis is infatuated with the 1940s—and has been since she was 15 years old, growing up in a somewhat "vintage" family in North Carolina.
Mrs. Lewis, now 22, has embraced the role of a “tradwife” (traditional wife), a neo-retro lifestyle trend adopted by some conservative newlywed women that has garnered a following on social media. She and her husband, Andrew Lewis, 28, embrace this choice, living together on a farm they purchased in Missouri.
Growing Up an Old Soul ..
As a child, I grew up on black and white movies,” she told The Epoch Times. “Dad really likes jazz. It was something that was a part of my life that I thought was normal. I read so many historical fiction books about the ’40s.”
Mrs. Lewis’s great-grandfather, who passed away in 2017, served in World War II—which probably instilled in her a strong sense of connection to this particular period.
“I started listening to more of the music and really started to get more vintage clothing,” she said. “It was just a really fun way to experiment with a different lifestyle.”
...
As she grew older, she incorporated more modern items into her fashion, she said. Though her style was still eccentric. “I never felt like I needed to fit in.”
“I enjoy more old-fashioned clothing and stuff like that,” she said.
Now married, having left the nest and high school behind, Mrs. Lewis embraced her penchant for vintage-era things and took the next step by living it.
Meeting and Marrying Andrew..
Mrs. Lewis met Mr. Lewis in May 2019. She reminisced about meeting her future husband for the first time. It was very traditional.
“We sort of have mutual friends,” Mrs. Lewis said. “My grandfather had friends within the church that my husband was going to at the time.”
Mr. Lewis spoke with her dad, in traditional fashion, and drove out from 12 or 13 hours away to meet her, a true act of chivalry.
Their first meeting was in June 2019. A week later, they were in a relationship.
...
We’ve been together since,” she said.
They married in June 2020, and Mrs. Lewis became Mrs. Lewis. The pair even saved their first kiss for that day.
Both Christians, they chose to glorify God in how they manifested their marriage, both leading biblical lives.
“I quit my job as a photographer,” she said. “I felt like I didn’t need to be as professional and modern and super relatable to clients because I didn’t need to do that anymore.”
Instead, she dove back into her roots.
“My purpose in life is to honor and glorify God,” she said. “I don’t see very much of that in modern society.
...
"I just like historical things—I always have. And I feel comfortable with it.”
One thing the Lewises shared was a desire for a farm, which helped in their decision to buy a fixer-upper house on a single acre.
They were married for a couple of years prior to being able to buy a house, while she was still working as a wedding photographer. By the time Mrs. Lewis quit, she'd saved money for an entire year for the downpayment.
It’s been really great, she said. Farm life has bestowed self-sufficiency on them. She keeps a garden now but later hopes to move to a bigger lot with room for chickens.
Marriage has taught the Lewises to respect each other’s space. She loves the ’40s, but Mr. Lewis can dress however he wants.
“I haven’t ever asked him to look vintage,” she said. “I want him to wear [what] he feels is most comfortable. And I wear what I feel is most comfortable.”
Some people who follow the couple on social media have asked, “Why doesn’t he look vintage, too?”
She said, “Because that’s not what he feels most comfortable in, so I’m not going to ask him to wear that.”
Living the Tradwife Dream..
Mrs. Lewis said that, unlike today, in the past men's and women’s roles were clear.
“Embracing who God made me to be as a woman is like embracing my femininity,” she said. “The very specific roles of men and women in older times, when our grandparents or great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents were alive, were defined.”
She laments how the media today tells us we can be anything with no consequences. But that’s not true.
Being a homemaker in 2023 is less common, and even shamed. Many feminists jockey against men for positions in the workplace, intent on shattering glass ceilings.
Mrs. Lewis and the tradwife trend defiantly and deliberately turn the feminist revolution on its head.
[Tradwifery] is hard to explain to people who just don’t get it,” she said. “The world has changed so much in the last 100 to 150 years. I just see it as almost completely opposite of what has been normal for thousands of years.”
That’s not to say there weren’t periods in history when society was rough, and women were persecuted. Yet today things have reached the other extreme, she thinks.
The role of the traditional wife means just that: filling the role of wife as it has long been defined. For Mrs. Lewis that means following the Bible.
It also means having particular standards in how you dress, what you say, and how you treat other people. And it might mean sacrifice, accepting what you don't have while embracing what you do.
“I think we’re headed for even harder times," she said. “I think we need to bring back a lot of these more frugal skills like I do.”
The traditional lifestyle isn’t for all women as adopting such values entails sacrifice and making do with what you have, even if it’s meager.
She said, “You make the most of what you have, and you seek to find beauty in that. That’s kind of what we’ve been doing.”
Maybe we were separated at birth. You’re grandfather sounds exactly like my grandfather. My grandfathers on both sides, really.
My grandmother never worked and never learned how to drive. In fact, whenever she and my grandfather ever went anyplace, she always sat in the back seat with her rosary beads.....LOL!
“Growing up in the 60s (before taxes put all women to work),”
I believe that it wasn’t so much the taxes that put all women to work. It was the feminist movement, which gave employers permission to pay men less than before. That trickled down to the husband not being able to support a family on his salary alone.
It also gave marginal husbands the permission and opportunity to be slackers. Why work so hard if Mama is bringing in bacon, too.
Rush discussed this often. I think it’s covered in one of his books.
Just to be clear, I have no problem with her lifestyle. It’s those that choose a lifestyle...and then demand I join in their “fun”. Don’t like fossil fuels? Don’t buy plastic or eat food made with fertilizer. But, don’t expect me to follow suit. Don’t like your penis and want to cut it off? Fine, go for it. But don’t try to convince my children it’s the thing THEY should be doing.
Capitalism and increased standard of living allows for a feminist movement. Poor countries and peoples didn't have time to worry about that, they were too busy trying to survive. More wealth and income allows for people to hang out and think of movements and revolutions for like that, same for gays, trannies, and other deviants.
I didn’t know a single “feminist” mom in my neighborhood while growing up. I do know that most of those mothers had gone to work by 1975.
This should over-ride log-in requirement:
We need all that tax money to pay for the societal ills of unsupervised and/or fatherless children.
Yesterday’s War Room show was excellent and it covered a lot regarding tradition, from music to movies to art (Norman Rockwell). I’m going to watch it again today. (LS had a great segment.)
There a lot to be said for returning to a more civilized, traditional, Christian lifestyle in America.
It’ll never happen, but moving in that direction couldn’t hurt.
“..I’m old enough to remember when everyone’s mom stayed at home. Growing up in the 60s (before taxes put all women to work), moms were home and your original (almost no divorce or illegitimacy) dad brought home the bacon....”
Yep. I was raised in the 50s/60s to the same thing. My dad worked outside the home, and my mom was stayed home with us six kids. Each of us had chores to do around the house to help out. The neighbors, the ones that I can remember, were the same way. Times sure were different back then.
FWIW, today would have been my parents’ 74th wedding anniversary. They’re both long passed now. Miss them much.
Feminists care as much about women as communists care about workers.
There was elegance and beauty, but most importantly a sense of self worth, pride and FEMININITY in women back then.
What we call feminism has robbed women of every sense of that word.
Today you have a bunch of fat, tattooed, unloyal, boyish (penis envy), childless he/she’s that want to lecture you about the patriarchy and privilege after they take their first sociology course at a college.
In most western nations, women (not all, but most) are trash, unable to support a true relationship with a man, maintain a household and rear children. Public education and the arts turned them into good factory workers that see their entire value merely through some idiotic career or title bestowed on them after graduating with a worthless degree that gets them no real job. They are little boys in how they look and act.
That’s the real reason many men look for women outside western nations. It’s simply hard to find something which hasn’t been used like a public bus and is capable of being part of a marriage and family.
The only Mom in our area who went to work was a nurse who had to do it. Her husband was in prison for sexually assaulting a girl. Otherwise, all were stay-at-home.
That system also provided a group of trustworthy women neighbors who would help keep an eye on all the kids. It was a network of loving moms instead of potentially creepy daycare providers.
These are more of the type of feminists I was thinking of. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjQ3SLh374
“And no TV so nothing to do at night but make love.”
and to actually sit and engage with your children and be involved in their lives.
playing a traditional board or card game as a family or even just a parent/child is worth way more then can be imagined.
my wife is a non-working mother. She doesnt even drive but we live in Israel so thats more normal here. She helps out at a preschool 2 1/2 hours a day for minimum wage, maybe 3-4 days a week. just enough to get out of the house. We certainly dont do it for the money.
She’s up to get our kids out in the morning. makes them lunch. and is home for them in the late afternoons evening.
Thank G-d, our children are normal and well-adjusted
That guy hit the jackpot!
Being normal is insane today.
Yep
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.