If You Tell A Kid You're Dating...

The first thing to realize when you give kids information is that they will ALWAYS WANT MORE. Always. They're inquisitive. They have no filters or boundaries. With this in mind...

I was over at a friend's house and Rayce had been busy with kids all day and had a few minutes to talk so I slipped away from the gathering and went on a walk to be able to chat for a few minutes. Meanwhile, four kids under the age of 10 asked my parents who I was talking to. They told them it was probably my boyfriend. While on the phone, I had asked Rayce all about the kids in his squad. I said if it ever came up to say hi from me. I believe his exact words were, "Babe, not one of these kids is going to ask if I have a girlfriend.We have a more professional relationship than that. They won't be asking that. Sorry, Sarah." I laughed and laughed and laughed and then I said, "No no no. You're so wrong. They definitely will. They're high school students. They will definitely be asking. No questions are off limits. The more personal the better." Rayce was so sure he was right he decided it was bet worthy. He said if they didn't ask I owed him a dinner... like a nice dinner no fast food etc. (his clarification) And if they did in fact ask, he owed me a nice dinner. The deal was on. 

We hung up after a while and I went to go play with the kids. Here's what went down. Looking back, it reminded me of the whole "If you give a mouse a cookie" and as soon as you give them a snippet of information they take off with it and it's a snowball effect.

I walk over and catch the frisbee throwing it back and then I basically get knocked over from the kid wrapping herself around my leg full force all out yelling "WHO IS YOUR BOYFRIEND AND WHERE IS HE AND HAVE YOU KISSED ON THE LIPS AND CAN I SEE HIM!"

And then you laugh and say his name is Rayce and he's at the Naval Academy and that's a silly question to ask and yes you can when he comes. 

A little bit of time goes by and they yell more questions for the whole neighborhood to here- ARE YOU TEXTING YOUR BOYFRIEND? WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS TALKING TO HIM? DO YOU LIKE HIM A LOT? DO YOU LOVE HIM? ARE YOU MARRIED TO HIM? ARE YOU ENGAGED? ARE YOU EVER GOING TO GET MARRIED? ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE NOT ENGAGED?

Yes I am texting my boyfriend and I do like him an awful lot and I do love him. No silly, I'm not married and I'm not married because we have to finish college so we can get jobs and no we aren't engaged either. 

And then they asked and asked and asked those same questions over and over again. And I gave them the same answers in a more roundabout way. So if you tell a kid you're dating, be prepared for any and all questions over and over again and also they will be shouted at you in exuberant excitement. 

And Rayce's squad asked him the next day if he had a girlfriend, and he goes are you kidding? My girlfriend and I had a bet going you wouldn't ask so now I owe her a nice dinner because y'all asked. And their response? They laughed and said of course they're gonna ask something like that. So guess who owes me a very nice dinner when he comes down in July? And it turns out I do know the teenagers very well which is, coincidentally, why I'm going to be teaching them! 

And that's what happens when you tell a kid you're dating...

Word Nerd

Hi, Sarah here,

It's been a while. I apologize. I'll make up for it somehow. Not sure how. But I will!

As most of you, I am an Secondary English Ed major and with this particular major comes some heavy reading. Like - whole novels assigned for that night's readings. And I can gripe and complain about it, but with all that reading comes some really epic words that render me speechless. Not only do I read the words, but since all my teachers are like walking libraries, their vocabulary is stupendous. And since I'm a self-proclaimed word nerd, I get super excited and kinda geek out. This is generally what happens.

Teacher: blah blah blah boring words boring words using gesticulations instead of words blah blah blah and the Juxtaposition and defamiliarizing of these words is blah blah blah

Me: *A slight flapping of my hands in excitement.*
"OH MY WORD what a fantastic word. I also have no idea what is means! But it just sounds so cool!"

*Pull up my dictionary app and looks!*

*Tries pronouncing it right. Botches it the first couple times. Uses it in a sentence.*

*Looks at what part of speech the word is. Memorizes the definition, sample sentence, pronunciation and part of speech.*

*Incorporates it into every day language even though it's highly obnoxious, superfluous word and no one else will know what I'm talking about.*

But it doesn't matter because I do and it's a cool word and I like learning and using cool words.

Do you have any cool words? Are you a word nerd? Have other geek out moments? Please share! Tell me I'm not alone on this!

Sincerely,
Word Nerd