A few months ago, I was perusing the APW archives and I stumbled upon an old open thread (which, I cannot for the life of me find again, because it was probably written a zillion years ago or in Elvish) that grabbed my attention as being kind of revolutionary. The question was simple: what do you like? Being a wedding and marriage website, it makes sense that most our conversations are framed through the experience of being a bride or groom or husband or wife or partner or what have you. But I liked that this thread diverged from the standard and encouraged us to talk about ourselves as individuals.
Because here’s the thing. I’ve been married a few years now. And maybe it’s because I live so far away from home these days and my day-to-day activities are less fresh on my loved ones’ minds, but the longer I stay married, the less it seems people remember that Michael and I are very different people with very different passions and hobbies and interests. There are lots of questions about my relationship, about Michael’s work and travel, and less about my own work and my personal projects. It used to be that people asked me what I was up to all the time. Now, I find myself finding any excuse to interject something I’m excited about into conversation. Did you hear about this project I’m working on? No? Well, let me share!
I’m sure there is a much deeper conversation to be had about this subject. About marriage and feminism and identity. But for today, I just want to open up this thread to share. What are you proud of? What are you working on right now, personally, professionally, or otherwise that you’re amped about? It doesn’t have to be big. Last week I overcame my fear of heights long enough to go up and see San Francisco from Coit Tower. It matters. So what do you like to do? What makes you, personally, happy? Today I want us all to be reminded that we aren’t just wives and mothers and girlfriends and fiancés and daughters. We are fully realized people and what we care about matters.
