It's overdue...

So here I am in Okeechobee. And I have stories.

I think someone one labeled my generation as the first generation without last names. When I went to college, I always introduced myself as Mary, just passing by the fact that I actually do have a last name. That the four letters of my first name are actually not my entire identity. I still have no last name.

I always called my teachers Ms. Something and Mr. Whatever, not always caring or trying be polite, but because those were their names. My teacher name should be Miss Lammers. It's not. It's Miss. Miss, I forgot my homework. Miss, can I go to the bathroom. Miss. Miss. Miss! I still only have one name, now I guess it's Miss instead of Mary.

I don't take offense to the lack of last name-ness that prevails. It's nothing personal. The students call everyone Miss, except for those they call Mister. All's fair. I don't make my students (I only have 15 in class) write their last names on their papers either. I guess if I started calling them by first and last name all the time, I would make them call me Miss Lammers. But right now, laziness has prevailed. I call them one name, they call me one name. No one has a last name anymore.

Maybe people outside of Okeechobee (population 5,000) have last names. I'm not really sure. The closest town of any substance is a good 45 minutes from here, and that's if you speed. If you go the speed limit, don't bother. With all the traffic and the honking, you might as well stay home, and be content to just dream about the days when Miss was just a precursor to the real name, not the name in and of itself.