First, Last and Only
Today I got to brave the horror known as the driver's licensing office in the ongoing quest to get myself officially known as Mrs. SwankPoet.
There was a woman sitting next to me who was of the chatty variety. At one point I almost made eye contact with her, and she asked if I was there to take my test. I informed her that, no, I was changing my name. Her response was something to the effect, of, "Oh, Congratulations on getting married again!"
Um, again? AGAIN??? Now the licensing office is in a socio-economically challenged pocket, and I'm sure that it hosts its fare share of single parents, multiple marriages, a wide variety of situations, but why would you immediately think I was getting married AGAIN? I mean, I know at 33 I may have been considered an old maid by some, but give me a little credit.
I'm always going to give people the benefit of the doubt. There are two situations in which I might use the phrase "Congratulations on getting married again!"
1. If someone known, like my half-brother, were to get married again. Of course, it would be marriage number 5 for him if he were to take that plunge, so it would be a factually correct statement. Well, the again part would be, not so sure about the congratulations part, since he doesn't really have good luck with weddings. Wife #3, the wedding in which I was a bridesmaid, lasted about 6 months.
2. If someone were to have children of vastly disparate ages I might make a presumption, particularly if those children were of obviously different racial background. When it's obvious that there are multiple fathers involved, it seems more likely that there are multiple marriages as well. But even then, I don't think I'm going to tack that "again" on there.
For the record, there will be no agains for this girl, I've got myself a hubby that I'm holding on to until the bitter end.
There was a woman sitting next to me who was of the chatty variety. At one point I almost made eye contact with her, and she asked if I was there to take my test. I informed her that, no, I was changing my name. Her response was something to the effect, of, "Oh, Congratulations on getting married again!"
Um, again? AGAIN??? Now the licensing office is in a socio-economically challenged pocket, and I'm sure that it hosts its fare share of single parents, multiple marriages, a wide variety of situations, but why would you immediately think I was getting married AGAIN? I mean, I know at 33 I may have been considered an old maid by some, but give me a little credit.
I'm always going to give people the benefit of the doubt. There are two situations in which I might use the phrase "Congratulations on getting married again!"
1. If someone known, like my half-brother, were to get married again. Of course, it would be marriage number 5 for him if he were to take that plunge, so it would be a factually correct statement. Well, the again part would be, not so sure about the congratulations part, since he doesn't really have good luck with weddings. Wife #3, the wedding in which I was a bridesmaid, lasted about 6 months.
2. If someone were to have children of vastly disparate ages I might make a presumption, particularly if those children were of obviously different racial background. When it's obvious that there are multiple fathers involved, it seems more likely that there are multiple marriages as well. But even then, I don't think I'm going to tack that "again" on there.
For the record, there will be no agains for this girl, I've got myself a hubby that I'm holding on to until the bitter end.
posted by Swankette at 1:04 PM
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