What do people DO on dates?

Last night, we went on a date. It was pretty lame. We ate dinner at Pappa's Seafood, and then we went to Borders AND Barnes and Noble to look at books and drink Starbucks. When it became 9:30, we decided we had stayed out long enough to make it worthwhile for the babysitter, and we went home. At dinner, we made googly eyes at the baby one table over. We remarked how silly we are, that whenever we go out without Little, we always find some other "little" to fawn over. We sat on the floor in Barnes and Noble, sipping our drinks and asking each other questions out of a Trivial Pursuit book. We drove past bars and scoffed at the thought of going in to a loud place with too many young singles drinking overpriced alcohol and trying to make a connection to the universe. Despite the lameness of where we went and what we did, we had a pretty nice time. Nice to talk. Nice to be a little adult-like. Just us. Together. Funny how our priorities change, how we can't wait to get an escape, but the moment we get it, we miss what we left behind. Grateful that we can still have it when we return.


I wonder if that's the case for everything?


I went through my teaching paperwork the other day, and I realized that my certification expires in November of next year. I also added up my professional development hours, and I only have about half of what I need for renewal. Good thing I don't have to return to work anytime soon. Good thing that I don't HAVE to go back to teaching if I don't want to. But in that same folder where I keep all that paperwork, I also had saved my old resumes from when I was first applying for teaching jobs, as well as the evaluations and recommendations I had asked my student teaching students to write for me before I left them. And I felt that love of teaching bubble back up inside of me. I went to that idealistic happy place where all teachers go before they get any real experience, and I wanted it all back. To teach again. To make those kids think. To change the way they learn, to give them understanding and knowledge and a future. To help them. I missed all that. Then I pushed those feelings aside and went on with my day.


Later that night, our babysitter (a former student of mine) said "Hi, Mrs. Jacobs!" as I opened the door to let her in, and I realized that I even missed being called by my last name. After we got back home from our date, she said "Goodbye Mr. Jacobs" to Paul... and I laughed inside because it sounded so absurd.