I didn't take my husband's last name, and people are surprisingly judgmental. They ask what he thinks about it.

Mon, 09/09/2024 - 04:21

Patricia Garrison and her husband smiling at the camera. He is wearing a button-up shirt and she is wearing a cream denim jacket. — Patricia Garrison didn't take her husband's last name when she got married.
Courtesy of Patricia Garrison

From an early age, I knew I didn't want to take my husband's last name when I got married.
I broke the promise to myself in my first marriage, but vowed to keep my last name when I divorced.
My husband doesn't mind it, and it's surprising to me how judgmental other people are.

When I was 14, in 1969, my mother won the raffle at her women's club, and when the monthly newsletter arrived in the mail, a picture showed her proudly wearing her prize, a caramel-colored mink stole. The caption, however, did not print her name.