Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Daughter. Sister. Aunt. Wife.

Last week, I forgot I had a husband.

I was at the dentist, chatting with the hygienist about recent events and I said, "Yeah well you know my fiancé was away for two and a half months."

"Your husband," she corrected me.

Oh, yeah.

I hadn't been in for a cleaning since I moved in the fall, so I also had to update my contact information. They gave me form to fill out. And I had to check the "Married" box in addition to writing out my new address.

It was bizarre.

After adding Mr. Wonderful to my health insurance at work, I also had to go in and change my status in our system from "Single" to "Married."

I don't feel married. I don't feel any different than I did before Mr. W and I started cohabiting in November.

I remember how weird it felt to call him my fiancé. This whole husband business is even weirder. It makes me feel like I'm 65. I was a swingin' single gal for so long. Now I'm an old married lady. You notice that people always refer to singles as "girls" but marrieds as "ladies"? I assure you, I'm no lady...

I had one of our cute wine bottle vases on my desk Friday and a coworker said, "Now how does one go about cutting the glass for that?"



I answered, "The husband built a fancy rig in the garage."

"Your husband," my cohort corrected. "Say it."

"My husband built a glass-cutting rig." It felt like a giant wad of Bazooka gum in my mouth.

I know I'll get used to this. But, right now, the strangeness of it all is sort of entertaining.

13 comments:

Jeff said...

Get used to it. It just gets stranger.

laura said...

At least with all the wedding nonesense you didn't turn into a lady. I was getting worried there for a minute. :)

When you find yourself saying this line to someone: "My husband and I stopped at the Cuban KMart in the Florida Keys to pick up a few supplies"....then you will have officially turned into a 65 year old, old married couple. :)But somehow I doubt that will EVER happen.

LesleyG said...

I'm betting the weird stuff keeps coming. It's still weird for me to say other adult things like "I have a mortgage to pay" so I can only imagine!

Melissa Maris said...

Jeff - Great... I have friends who have been married for 10+ years and they say every now and then they'll look at one another and say, "Who ARE you?"

Laura - Lord help us all if I end up in a Cuban Kmart ever.

Lesley - I totally hear ya! Sometimes I feel like I'm just "playing" grown-up. :)

Anonymous said...

Don't feel so bad about the forgetfulness. At least you didn't have to endure the withering look I got from someone when I handed in a form marked "37" "single" and "never married" the other day. lol

Nilsa @ SoMi Speaks said...

You're not alone. It took me a while getting used to saying husband, too. But, I will say that I squirmed more when saying finace than when saying husband. I think fiance suggests people should get all excited for your upcoming nuptials, even absolute strangers. And I hate that fake sort of happiness. It's much easier to say husband, because it's a matter of fact and no one has to know if I've been married a month or 15 years!

Sizzle said...

Confession: sometimes in my own head I practice calling Mr. Darcy my husband. I'm having a hard enough time swallowing that he's my live in boyfriend.

Anonymous said...

You're not 65 until you start having conversations with 'the husband' about those pesky youth today.

Bretthead said...

Is he calling you the 'ball and chain' yet?

Jeff said...

If by every now and then they mean every day, then yes.

HunnerWoof said...

I dunno...I think you could be considered a lady. Weren't you the one who came up with the creative idea of how to use a scented panty liner? That was a very ladylike idea indeed...

Anonymous said...

Now aside from being a 65 year old at K-Mart in Florida. Just be careful in how you use the "65"
year old "old lady"!

blakspring said...

haha - yeah, it takes a while before it feels natural. it doesn't make your feelings any different :)