Ms. Aubrey Bright please... is she there?

Well it's happened, and it only took 3 weeks. With this one piece of mail, that came from the hospital no less, Aubrey has entered a world I've known my whole life. That being a world that seems to think Ashley and Aubrey must be girls names, even though Ashley is traditionally a boys name, as for Aubrey, well I guess it's a gray area.


There is nothing quite like making a credit card purchase over the phone and having the operator ask for the name on the card, immediately followed by the question, "Is she there?" To which I answer, "well she is me", that usually gets something like, "Oh I'm sorry... I didn't realize... ah... sorry...", sensing their embarrassment I usually let them off the hook by saying "not a problem it happens all the time". Or the other fun thing is when I make a purchase in person and the cashier looks at the card, then at me and says... "geez you don't look like an Ashley" Having heard this before I knowing full well they only said this to be funny at my expense or to seem superior by pointing out my less then "manly" name so I tend to be a little more bitchy and say "well what exactly SHOULD an Ashley look like?" That usually ends the witty cashier/customer banter.

Having said all this I have never been ashamed of my name, and love it's uniqueness (I've only met 1 other male Ashley in my life) so I hope that in time Aubrey will come to feel the same way. I mean come on, Mr. Aubrey Malcolm James Rodriguez Bright... how cool is that?!

Oh ya speaking of Aubrey's name, we got his Social Security card in the mail yesterday and I guess they don't like long names, cause his official name on the card is, and I quote "Aubrey Malcolm James Ro Bright". I'm sure this will come back to bite him in the butt at some point.