They Call Me Mrs. Brogan

I was at the grocery store last night.  Yeah, I know, that’s not usually my deal, but I couldn’t avoid it.  Anyway, one of the employees happened to address me as “Miss.”

It threw me for a little bit of a loop.  In theory, I haven’t been “Miss” for a little over 28 years now.  Realistically, I passed the “Miss” stage of my life when my kids started school.

Most women of my acquaintance vehemently detest being called “Mrs. Last Name.”  Every single one of them will say, “My name is [insert first name].  Mrs. Last Name is my mother-in-law.”  

I’ve never had that feeling.  I mean, geez, I’m proud of my husband and his last name...why would I not like being called that?  My guess is that being addressed as Mrs. Last Name makes them feel old.  

I’ve never had that feeling either.  And, really, so what?!  Being older--not old--equates respect in my mind.  

Mrs. Brogan encompasses so much:  wife, mother, nurse, chef, chauffeur, and wailing wall.  So, when my kids started school, I got tired of being “Young Man’s mom” or “Molly’s mom,” so I started telling their little friends to call me Mrs. Brogan.  

To this day, if I see some of their friends, I am still Mrs. Brogan, and you now what?  I like that a lot!

I call my best friends Mrs. Last Name all the time.  However, if I use their first names, I shorten it up to one syllable.  Ang, Jo, Tash, Vick.  Molly just pointed out to me not too long ago is that I don’t do that with men’s names.  Men’s names I expand out to the full given name:  Nicholas, Steven, Thomas, Michael.

Isn’t that odd?  I don’t know why I do that, but after she told me, I realized it was true.  Interesting.  

Then there are the nicknames.  My dad’s best friend goes by Duke.  Even though I always knew his real first name, the nickname is how I heard him referred to as a kid, so that’s how my kids know him.  When Young Man graduated from high school, he got a card signed “Dave & Joy.”  He looked at me and said “I know who Joy is, but who the hell is Dave?”  He’d never, in 18 years, heard Duke’s real name!  

I have a friend who used to come and get rhubarb from us when her kids were small.  That would have been, oh, 20 years ago now.  They still call me Rhubarb Jude.  

Over the years, I’ve noticed that Captain’s classmates--the guys anyway--all refer to each other by last name.  Dose, Fitch, Rucker, Weber.  It’s like a club or something.  

I could go on an on, and you could likely tell me funny stories about names in your family or circle of friends as well.  And if you are like me, when you tell the story, there is always a smile on your face!

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