WHAT??? Teachers have LIVES???

This past Thursday I was working late when my parents called and said they were going to the Dairy Queen near my school and wanted me to come with them. Since Derek had cross country coaching and Bible Study that night, and would therefore be grabbing some fast food in between the two events, I wholeheartedly agreed. I'm never one to pass up DQ ice cream.

So my parents came and picked me up at the school and we drove to DQ together. It's always funny to me when I go somewhere with my parents, because I think it makes people think I'm ever younger than what they normally think. You can almost see people trying to work it out in their heads... "So, she looks really young, but she's dressed kind of nice like an adult. She's got a school nametag on, but she's out with older people who seem like her parents. How old IS this girl??" I always look young, but then I look REALLY young when I go out with my mom and dad.

We ordered our food and took it to-go because we wanted to take it over to Bogan Park to eat outside and watch some softball. I know this is a ridiculous thing to think, but subconsciously I guess I just thought that all students from anywhere in the area would go hang out at Dacula Park, since that's where I grew up. It hadn't really dawned on me that Bogan Park is actually closer to my school and the students would probably go there to hang out and play rec sports.

When we showed up to the park, I was holding my dog, Jerzee, on her leash, along with a large bag of DQ food, blizzards, and drinks. As I'm waddling up to the picnic benches like a pregnant woman, I suddenly hear a little girl say to a friend, "Hey, is that Mrs. Kreider????? Tori, isn't that Mrs. Kreider??" The shock in her voice was hysterical because it said so much underneath her words. She was really asking, "Oh my gosh, is that a teacher outside of school? Teachers come out of their classrooms? Is that actually Mrs. Kreider up here at the park where WE hang out?" Then when I turned and politely waved at this little girl, I remembered that it is NOT cool for students to wave to their teachers out in public! :-)

We ate our dinner and then watched a scrimmage softball game, where a few of my students were playing. It was fun getting to watch them play softball, and it gave me something with which to connect to them. My two seventh grade girls made every attempt to not look at me sitting over on the stands, because that would be just way too embarrassing to acknowledge me in public. But thank goodness for cute little sixth graders who still like you! From the dugout a girl with a helmet on calls out, "Is that YOU, Mrs. Kreider?" I waved back at her, and she seemed genuinely excited to see me.

The next day at school, my sixth grader almost bragged in class that she saw me the night before and that she was the only student to have actually seen my dog. (I use my dog as an example quiet often of how to write a descriptive, focused story because it's an easy topic to improv.) It was too cute! But although done in a different way, I know that secretly my seventh grade girls thought it was cool to have seen me, even if they didn't admit it. They each came up to me at different times in more private situations and asked, "Mrs. K, were you at the park last night?," pretending like they couldn't really be sure if that was me. When I talked to them about their plays and hits on the field, they kind of lit up, so that was cool.

So all in all I was reminded that students think teachers don't have lives outside of school and that it's super embarrassing to say hello to them on the few occasions that they actually break free of their chains and step out into the real world. This post is dedicated to all teachers who have lives... have a great weekend, teachers!