Yes, it happened again!

I've been in the store from the post titled "Pray it ain't so" twice since the incident with the ignorant clerk, and haven't seen him again. "You can't fix stupid," but the manager may have removed it...or perhaps he was simply temporary help.  In any case, the store is much better off without him.

For the past week "plus," we've had visitors at our house.  Our son, D-I-L and 3+ year old granddaughter were visiting.  There was lots of time to visit, get a few items checked off the to-do list, and do some sightseeing.

Our son could only stay a few days with us, before flying out for work...but the little one and her mom stayed the rest of the week.  We had a great time, and got to see a lot of my mom in the nursing home.   My mom's memory is failing and she doesn't understand what being a great-grandmother is, who the little girl belongs to...or that the baby's daddy is her grandson.  But even so, a baby brings a smile to the face of just about any woman...and my mother was no exception!

We also went sightseeing in downtown Baltimore, with one overnight in a downtown hotel.   I was dressed in capri outfits, pantyhose, turtlenecks and flats, with a water-repellent jacket, such as in the following, taken at the USS Constellation in the Inner Harbor:

And accordingly, when we checked in at the hotel in downtown Baltimore, I was addressed as "Ms (add "now-exclusively female" given name here) for our entire visit.   Never heard the dreaded S-word.  We also visited the aquarium (granddaughter loved it):

Timbuktu is a very real city, located in the West African state of Mali, sitting about 12 miles north of the Niger River on the southern border of the Sahara, with a population of about 50,000.  We didn't have time (nor did we bring our passports with us) to fly over for dinner on another continent.  :-(  So we had to make do with going to the "American Timbuktu":

It's a restaurant in Hanover, MD, near the new casino, with decent food.  Granddaughter loved the macaroni and cheese,  the ladies enjoyed their meals, and the crab cake sandwich I had was good, too.  They don't use a lot of local seasoning (called Old Bay) on their home-made crab cakes.  That's good...you can tell I wasn't raised here, as I don't care for that stuff!  (Waitstaff simply used no gender specific forms of address for me - guess I must have confused them.)

The next day, at a fabulous playground in a nearby town, our granddaughter made friends with a 9YO girl, and they were playing with the girl's kiddie "bubble makers" while her daddy and 10YO brother watched them.  I was standing nearby, while DIL and my wife were talking, but not within direct earshot.

While standing near his daddy, the 10YO boy asked me "Are you a boy or a girl?"  As you may remember, this question had its dress rehearsal rather recently, and I recited the same response about being a boy, this time without being upset, due to the kid's tender age.   "But you have long hair" he exclaimed.   I couldn't help thinking that this kid may be having a learning experience.   I smiled and said "Yes hon, and it's all mine! At this ripe old age, too.  Wouldn't give it up for anything."   The boy's daddy, who obviously overheard, chimed in right away, to remind his son that his Uncle (insert name here) has long hair too - and had it for years.  Nothing was said by anyone about my capris, flats or purse.   And the kid said "OK Dad. Bye, Mister."  Then he ran off to play with the other kids.

It's obvious that not everyone is like the impertinent clerk, with ill intentions by asking "the question."  It would simply be nice to not have to deal with the topic quite so often!   But I'll get used to it.   Sort of makes me wonder if perhaps the topic came up in some recent church sermons in the area????   Perhaps as part of discussions about the gay Democratic candidate for President?  That might be an explanation for the recent spike in such comments.

Will it happen again?   We'll see...

More later...

Mandy