shards of something else.

Mrs. X

Today at lunch, a bunch of us got to discussing how one properly addresses a woman these days. John - whom I also have the great privilege of calling brother in Jesus - once got in trouble for referring to his host as "madam" multiple times in a presentation where he was an international guest speaker. "Who told you I was married??" she demanded of him afterwards. Apparently you only use "madam" if one is married. We discussed lots of possibilities..... "Ma'am", "Madam", "Miss", "Mrs.", woman, lady..... what is appropriate and the implications of addressing a female a certain way is so complex and is constantly changing with the times.

Who knew?

We finally settled on "Ms." as a safe bet.

Later, I stopped by John's office to discuss work. At the end of the conversation, John put his new knowledge to good use, "Thank you MS. Wong."

I replied, "You're very welcome," and turned to go.

"I'm looking forward to the day when we can call you Mrs. X."

Laughing, I said, "There is no 'X'."

"Not yet, but that's alright. We just need to wait and be patient."

"Yeah."

It feels so good to know that there is someone else dreaming and hoping on my behalf.