Feminist Rant

Normally I don't post from home because frankly I spend enough time in front of the computer at work everyday, but today I arrived home and within the days' mail was a wedding announcement from my cousin. It was addressed to the X's. I will give you a moment while you figure out what is wrong with that.

Everybody got it? Yep, I didn't change my last name when the husband and I married. There is no Mrs. in the house. I am a MS.!!!! When I got the wedding announcement from this cousin and his prospective bride, I was cool, they didn't know. So I sent a note, with my full name on the return address. The wedding present I ordered from Target came from me, my credit card, again with my full name on the packing slip. And yet, it still hasn't sunk in.

Listen, I am not such a feminist nazi that I can't cut people some slack. I try to smile at the old people who think my son is a girl because he doesn't have a crew cut. I give people one shot to get my name wrong before I expect them to correct themselves on the assumption that I blissfully turned my back on the name that took me through college, grad school, the first five years of my career and the first 29 years of my life. This is, after all, the 21st century folks. Shouldn't we be asking about these things by now and not ASSUMING? And I do assume that if you are family you might catch on to this a bit quicker, especially if the person is themselves under the age of 30.

But then people still think it is appropriate to sound saddened when a woman over 30 tells them she isn't married or to give the same reaction to a married woman over 40 who doesn't have kids. Sometimes these are choices people, not cruel twists of fate. And if by chance they are cruel twists of fate, well here is some lemon juice that you can pour on that wound that you just stabbed repeatedly. Dear God they should be teaching etiquette and manners in school nowadays.

Don't assume people, or as my least favorite boss used to be oh-so fond of telling me "You make an ass of you and me."