Housewife Has No Regrets

The celebration was quiet, sophisticated and reverent-a mirror of her life.

Champagne, gifts and smiles dressed the table while seven women sat down to a scene that had recurred before.

"Make a wish" was the command.

But the overwhelming sight of 50 individual flames left Debbie Wilson in a different state of mind. Her eyes lifted to see the faces of six friends, six highly educated and accomplished individuals.

To her left sat a Yale Law School graduate. To her right sat a cardiologist from John Hopkins Medical School.

The other women present had made careers for themselves with their degrees from prestigious undergraduate institutions, including Middlebury College, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and Duke University. Their husbands no longer supported them but instead tried to keep pace with their own professional careers.

These certainly had been the years of the liberated woman, but the woman with the biggest smile sat at the head of table. As she thought about the hectic, stressful yet goal-oriented lives of her friends, Wilson knew in the end she had made the right decision.

Since her young feet hit the ground, Debbie Wilson has known little other than Austin, Texas-home to her for around 38 years now and for good reason.

"Austin was a good size-not too small, yet not too large," she explained. "There was a feeling of security we had that it was a safe place to be. We have an interesting exchange of ideas that happens here because of the University [of Texas-Austin]. There is an open mindedness, a relaxed feeling that still feels very genuine and affirming to me."

She attended elementary school through high school in the suburbs and decided prior to graduation to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where her father was a professor in the philosophy department. After focusing her studies in psychology for two years, she quit school after discovering that there were no jobs in the field to pursue.

While many students during this time period competed to earn degrees and start a structured career path, Wilson believes that a degree in psychology would not have changed her life dramatically anyway.

"I do not think my degree would have changed much about my life, except that I would have that degree as a starting point if I ever decided to go back to school," she said. "But for me, the degree would simply be a piece of paper that indicated I finished what I started."

A series of various blue-collar jobs in Texas and Utah followed her departure from school and into her days of employment.

Leaving Austin for the first time, Wilson headed to Houston with her future husband Ron, who was attending the University of Texas at Houston Medical School, to look for work in the city's ever-growing job market. During her three-year stay, she became a transcriber in the radiology department at M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute.

The completion of medical school brought Wilson and her husband to San Antonio, where he found a surgical internship at the University of Texas in San Antonio. Finding work at the University's computer center, she handled administrative issues and billing information for the department.

Her husband's residency work at the University of Utah Medical Center left Wilson once again following him to Salt Lake City. Wilson worked for over three years in the University's Nursing Administration Department until giving birth to her first child, Chris.

With her commitment to motherhood, Wilson's work days were finished for a long time. After the birth of her daughter, Kate, five years later, she did not return to work until moving back to Austin to finish raising her children.

When her husband opened up his own neurosurgery practice in Austin, Wilson joined him as his office secretary for 14 years before officially quitting and returning home to her previous role as housewife.

And surprisingly, she couldn't be happier.

"I am in a wonderful place in my life right now," she stated. "I have my life back. I am young enough and healthy enough to really enjoy this time."

Her deep faith and activity through the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church has brought her new meaning to life. As Vice President, she handles the Church Council and the Personnel Committee.

Her volunteering and regularly attending community service to help feed the homeless every Tuesday morning has brought her joy beyond any previous employment.

"It is the most deeply satisfying work I can imagine," Wilson added. "It fulfills me in ways I cannot adequately describe."

While she never discovered that right career path as a lawyer or doctor like so many of her friends did, Wilson's never looking back at her fifty years with any regrets.

"I'm 50 and having a blast," she said.

So where is the housewife now?

Still holding that ageless smile today in her cozy Austin home. While her life might not tell itself, that smile continues to tell all.