An Open Letter

Dear friends and family,

I love receiving your news, photos, and good wishes at this time of year. Your cards are displayed prominently on the wall of our home, and we feel very fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Steve and I will be sending out our own holiday greetings this year, as soon as I make my way over to the post office to buy the 100+ stamps I need. I hope you enjoy the photo, which captures one of our favorite moments from our wedding day. I apologize for not having time or space to write a more personal greeting to each of you, but please know that our good wishes are many and heartfelt.

However, as much as I love your holiday greetings, I am not so enamored of the envelopes in which they are arriving. The unfortunate majority of them have caused me a great deal of sadness and anxiety, which I know you did not intend. You see, Mrs. Freiburger lives in Wisconsin, and is not taking her mail at our house. And while I adore Steve and his family and think their last name is perfectly lovely, it is not mine. Furthermore, I find it distressing to see that so many of you hold the erroneous belief that by getting married, I sacrificed not only my last name, but also my first. When I married Steve, I did not become him.

When you receive our card, please take a moment to read the message, in its entirety. If you look closely,* you will see that its senders are Madeline Cohen and Steve Freiburger. We will greatly appreciate if you address future greetings to us by those names.

Happy holidays!

Love, Mad.

*In fact, if you have to look closely to see this, you must be trying very hard to ignore the fact that my name is exactly what it has been for the past 35 years.

Comments

[michelle]

Ha! I too am thrilled at being called Mrs. Karl Wolf. Though at my current bald state, I guess it's suitable.