The Stay-at-Home Woman Travels Well

I ran across an article in the New York Times about Ann Romney called The Stay-at-Home Woman Travels Well.

Here are some notable excerpts:

"So chatty was her approach, she never actually asked the audience for their votes. The crowd adored it. In explaining why, they listed the reasons that Mitt Romney has put his wife front and center in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination — in contrast to Rudolph Giuliani, whose politically inexperienced, thrice-married wife, Judith, has remained largely silent, and Mike Huckabee, whose wife, Janet, has only recently begun to campaign on her own. Mrs. Romney, 58, is young-looking but long-married, they noted. The word 'classy' came up, as did the name Laura Bush. "

"She began dating her husband, son of Michigan’s then-governor, George Romney, at 15. (Her high school yearbook jokingly referred to her as 'the first lady.') She converted to his religion, Mormonism, at 18, waited the two-plus years that Mr. Romney spent as a missionary in France, and married him when she was 19."

"She spent the first decades of her marriage raising five sons. She taught 6 a.m. Mormon scripture classes five days a week for her sons and other children, and put sesame-seed chicken on the table for her boys at 5:30 p.m., hours before Mr. Romney returned home to Belmont, Mass., a suburb of Boston, from his work in consulting and then private equity. She even went to bed surrounded by her kids, who held searching late-night talks in their parents’ bedroom."

"Mr. Romney is so devoted to his wife, said Laraine Wright, an old friend, that when he had to spend a few days in another city for work, he would sometimes fly home at night, just so they could see each other. And once, when a Romney son insulted his mother, Mr. Romney sped home at midday to set him straight."

"The seeming perfection of the Romney’s union has led to some eye-rolling, but their claim of total harmony is a bit easier to understand in light of their religious beliefs. When Mormons wed, there’s no 'till death do us part.' Couples are actually 'sealed' in a ceremony meant to bond them for eternity. One result is that the church emphasizes perfecting, marriages — talking out problems, getting help. 'It’s like constant marriage counseling,' said Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp, a religion professor at the University of North Carolina."