Miss, Ms. and Mrs. Titles

Ok, in keeping with the last post…I’m putting this one out there.  I guess I’m working on me again and figuring out my next chapter.  It’s been long coming even though I’ve been divorced for awhile now.  I’m just thinking I may want to venture out of my comfort zone further and see what the next adventure has in store for me.

So, after yesterday’s post, I was thinking about the Ms. title.  My memory of when Ms. first came into my view, I was working in the corporate world and not married.  I used Miss and for whatever reason, I didn’t feel like I was a Ms.  Maybe it was my age or the times or how I felt about me?

Because to me, Ms. was a power statement.  Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s how I felt at the time.  Ms. was the unknown – married or not, it didn’t matter.  Ms. was who she was with or without a husband/partner.

But then, once I was married, I was happy to be called Mrs. Leeds.  And now that I’m divorced and kept my married name because of my kids, people call me Ms. Leeds.  Well, people who I don’t know well, because my kids’ friends still call me Mrs. Leeds.  Old habits die hard and I don’t have the heart to keep correcting them.  Because really, what does it matter anyway?  But it’s weird in a way because I’m still not used to the Ms. title.  Maybe if I had taken back my maiden name after the divorce, it wouldn’t sound so strange to me.  But it does…Ms. Leeds instead of the Mrs. Leeds that I was for decades.

I feel like Ms. is the middle road between Miss (not married) and Mrs. (definitely married) when you aren’t sure of the status of the woman to whom you are speaking.  It’s a form of respect.  Although, I will say that I clearly remember women who were married, but chose the title Ms. in the workplace as what I thought was a statement of defining themselves.

How about you?  What do you think?

♥