The best part about being married to a School Teacher

You know John tricked me once. When we were dating.

It's true, he did.  He said he was going to be a doctor!    Now it might seem as though I married him just because of that prospect, but that isn't why I married him at all.

I actually married him for his looks.

Anyways, a couple of years into our marriage when he decided that he wanted to be a school teacher instead of a doctor, I felt a huge wave a relief.   I really was so glad.   I hear that teachers get paid just a little bit less then doctors, but the hours he would have logged in the medical profession would have been deadly!

Deadly for me- not him. I'm high maintenance that way.

So when John began his teaching career,  I have to admit I had expectations of an 8:00-3:30 sort of a deal. I figured that John would walk through the door with the rest of the kids right after school.   But that hasn't been the case. In reality it is more like 5:00.    FIVE O'CLOCK!!   What the heck? That's like normal home time for other peoples husbands.    I married a SCHOOL TEACHER!   And let the record show that school ends at 3:30! (actually school ends earlier then that- but hey I can be reasonable)

I sometimes sit at home and wonder what John does in that hour and a half between 3:30 and 5:00. Why would someone choose to stay late after work?  His answer is always that he's "prepping."   But I don't believe him.   Nope, not one single bit.

Sure he might do a little bit of that "prep" stuff, but does he really need that much time?  One day I'm going to ambush him.   I'll show up unannounced at his classroom at the end of the day and then he'll be busted.  I already know exactly what I'll find.   I'm pretty sure that I will find him sitting at his desk watching old episodes of the Rick Mercer report (because apparantly that's where he finds great clips on aorodynamics and gforce), or catching up on his Ted Talks or tinkering with his airplane.    As soon as he sees me he'll grab that red pen of his and pretend to be marking or ahem..."prepping."

I suppose I might possibly catch him dissecting a toaster (or some gadget that has long since left our home) for parts that he'll need for an experiment the next day.   But he thinks that kind of thing is fun to do, so even that doesn't count as work.   That's my whole point!   I am undeniably 100% certain that I am probably pretty correct in suspecting that he is most likely, maybe staying late after school because it is FUN for him.

How dare he! 

What nerve to be having an enjoyable time, while I'm here... fixing dinner, .... trying to get the kids to stop snacking before dinner, ...while keeping them busy , YET QUIET so that they don't wake the baby.  Why on earth would he not want to rush home for a peice of that? 


And when do I get to have any FUN in a day?

I'l tell you when my day gets FUN.   It's at Five O'clock when John walks through that door and the kids practically throw themselves over the banister and into his arms yelling his name.   It's when I'm so happy to see him that I want to do the same thing, but hold back because - well I'm not a kid and that might look silly.  It is when I get to hand the baby off to him and finally have the use of both of my arms again.  It's when I watch him get the kids hyper right before bedtime and I pretend to be mad when really I just feel so happy that he's such a "hands on Dad".

It's when the kids fall asleep, and John and I can talk without interuption, or settle in to watch some of our most favorite M*A*S*H episodes. 

It's when I realize that there is no such thing as being "on call" when you are a teacher.

 I guess I should just sit back and be happy with this whole 8:00-5:00 gig.

It really is quite sweet!