Becoming Mrs. Ritter

In September, Michael and I will have been married for three years.

Three years. I can't believe it.
Life is going by SO. FAST.

I don't know about you other married ladies out there, but sometimes the whole name change thing still freaks me out.

I was Dana Brown for almost 30 years.
Right after we got married, I started a new job, so everyone there has only ever known me as Dana Ritter.
Except me.

Sometimes my work email handle seems strange to me.
I guess I will eventually get used to it, at some point.

I was thinking about this last week, and I even posted on Facebook about it.
Then, I went to a luncheon at the National Press Club, where I was lucky enough to sit at the head table.  And this happened.

Crazy, right?

Every now and then, in my life, I have these moments where I have to pinch myself.

The cab ride over to this luncheon was one of those times.

Because for years, Dana Brown dreamed of being a member of the National Press Club.

She dreamed of working in Washington, DC.

She would envision working at a network, and covering the White House, as she drifted off to sleep.

Not even in Dana Brown's biggest dreams did she ever think she'd be asked to sit at the head table as Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill of PBS talked about covering a presidential election.

As if Dana Brown could ever actually be considered a colleague of THEIRS.

You've got to be kidding me, right?

Well. 

It happened.

The photographer at the National Press Club was really sweet and he took this picture of me and then told me I was very photogenic. Bless his heart! I was having a really flat hair day, so I needed that pick-me-up.

I ate PBS, just so you know. I think my husband (the biggest PBS fanatic I know) would be proud.

This isn't even the first time I've done something like this. Remember the time I sat at the head table for Tom Brokaw? Too bad I was totally upstaged by Walter Cronkite IV, but whatever.

I'm so thankful for these opportunities.

Dana Brown's professional dreams are coming true, all the time.

Dana Ritter worries sometimes when she's in the company of serious intellectual newsies like Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill that she's going to be found out. Like she doesn't really deserve to be there. She's not as smart, she's just playing along.

I guess part of me will always just feel like a little 20 year old news intern who just hopes, some day, to make it.

And maybe part of me will always feel like Downtown Dana Brown.

And that's okay with me! 

If you're super nerdy, like me and my husband (I'm not throwing him under the bus, he fully admits to this) you can watch the luncheon here: