I've known you by that avatar for a long time, and she is only now noticing? 

Similarly, my wife just yesterday looked at my avatar and I had to explain it to her as if she had never seen it.

login names and avatars are part of that dwindling realm of do as you please.  When someone comes along and suggests your avatar or login sends the wrong message, well, I'm uncomfortable with that level of control in a personal preference setting.

That said I wish it were as easy to change my login name as it is my avatar because sometimes we want to change.

Keep your avatar as you would like, or get closer.