So, you're husband just made you really mad ...

I should preface this post by saying that Graham has not made me really mad about anything but it was the funniest part of a conversation that happened to me earlier this week. Hence, the title of the post. Just keep reading. It'll all make sense soon.


Earlier in the week, a student was sitting in the entry way of my office making up a test. At the same time, a cute little girl, probably 4 or 5, with curly blonde hair was walking outside in the hallway talking to the adult that was with her. In a really quiet building, a cute little high-pitched voice asking questions was certainly out of the ordinary.


Distracted by the little girl, the student looked up at me and asked, "Do you have any children?"


I responded, "Yes, we have one daughter."


Then he asked, "What's her last name?"


This of course caught me off guard. I said, "Bodie," still unsure of where this was going.


He responded, "Oh, it's not hyphenated?" and nodded his head like my answer was different than he expected.


I said, "Well, yeah, it's Bodie. You know I didn't decide to hyphenate my name until I'd already been married for 5 years."


He chuckled and said, "What, so you're husband just made you re-e-ally mad one day and you decided to change it ... ?"


What? That's when I realized I was dealing with someone who obviously had some preconceived ideas about me because of my name. Strange.


So, I went into the 30-second "spiel" about Graham not caring if I changed my name at all, not wanting to be the second Dr. Ashley Bodie (my sister-in-law's rightful name), going by my middle name and not wanting "Ashley Jones" to disappear when I got married, just liking the way it sounds, and my parents really liking it, etc., etc.


He seemed a bit shocked. Like he'd never even thought there could be an explanation other than what he had assumed to be the reason. Needless to say, it was an interesting conversation. Weird for me to be reminded/confronted with the fact that students will make assumptions about their teachers. I know we all do it. Still, it just made for a really crazy story. Wonder what he would have said if I'd said yes, my husband did just make me mad. That would have been funny.