Halleluyah! I learned how to work the WiiFit. I had to. Having announced on the blog that I was going to try it, I felt compelled to follow through. Also, I had encouragement from my teen-aged son, Max. Partly, I think, he was just eager to see me wield the Wii controls. I am not a video game player. Mostly what I do is work. In the kitchen. At shul. At meetings. Driving in the car. On the phone. In front of the computer. I am always working.

I remember when Max was little, around two and a half, and we were preparing for Passover (the presence of a toddler does not make this easier!) I wanted to convey to him something about the meaning of the holiday, so I described what it was like to be a slave. "What if you could never play?" I asked him. "What if all you could do was work, work, work all the time? In the morning, all day long, until late at night?" He thought for a moment. "You mean like you, Mommy?"

It was funny, of course. Part of me was appalled. Is that really how my baby saw me? As a drudge? What kind of a role model was I for him? And how would my actions affect his view of mothers in particular and women in general? The feminist in me recoiled. Big time.

But another part of me was secretly pleased. Because he had recognized my self-sacrifice and hard work. I wasn't playing the martyr, God forbid. But he had touched a chord and the echo of that remains with me. Endless work as a female badge of honor. An assuaging of guilt. A perverse kind of self-satisfaction.

I'm ready to move away from that. I don't believe that's what God demands of us. Of women. Of me.

So tonight, Max and I played on the WiiFit. It was hard, but he cheered me on. I did pretty badly on the balance exercises. (The Wii trainer asked me if I trip a lot when I walk! As if!) But I broke a sweat. And I made a start. I played with Max. And I had fun.