Jun29

My date with Mrs. Instructor

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My date with Mrs. Instructor

It started out well.

Chuckle chuckle.

Here’s the thing that’s funny about getting together with friends with children:

We have children.

First of all, my people were going to be hanging out with the cool kids. The Little Instructors have a Jiu-Jitsu instructor and the high school surf team captain as parents, okay?

My daughters accompanied me wearing matching “Libraries rock” T-shirts and skirts they literally sewed themselves.

Laura Ingalls Wilder would be so proud.

So, yeah. I was already working at a deficit in my mind, but I love my children. Their mom was no “cool kid,” though I carried some modicum of respect with the stoners and skaters of my high school. If they heard me use the word “modicum,” that would be the end of the respect.

As this was their first meeting, the four younger children, my six-year-old and her three children, younger than mine, stayed mostly apart from each other as they explored the playground. Then a turning point came somewhere around shirts coming off and being soaked at the water bottle refill station.

That’s when all heck broke loose and the children came together as one.

Wet shirts were used as whips against each other and their moms in a way that would impress towel-wielding jocks in locker rooms.

Frankly, it was a hot day, and being whapped with a wet T-shirt by a six-year-old or younger was rather refreshing.

“I can see the blog post now: ‘Mrs. Instructor takes me to a wet T-shirt contest,'” she quipped.

We needed to get pictures to commemorate this auspicious* occasion. (*Speaking of high school skaters, somewhere one just fell off his board at the use of that SAT-prep word.)

I handed one of my girls my phone and she snapped away. Our children were running around us, getting in the shot, half nude. My son was making growling faces at the camera. One of hers was lying shirtless behind us. It was all just hysterical, especially since we didn’t see the full extent of this chaos until we looked at the photos later.

All in all, a great morning!

With some selective editing to protect the innocence of our children, here’s the most sanitized shot, carefully cropped. I had asked her how we should pose. She said, “Get me in a headlock.”

“Headlock.” This seems to be my go-to when taking pics with members of this family, namely, SD and, back in the day, Instructor.

What you can’t see is her other daughter and my son in front of us. Trust me. You’re better off. Some things you just can’t unsee. (I’m kidding. But still.)

Mrs. Instructor told me her husband was wary of fraternizing with students based on past experience. “I love Betsy,” she reported him saying, “But don’t let things get weird.” Later he told her, “I don’t know why I said that. I’m sure it will be fine.”

Later that evening, I messaged her:

“L” is Instructor, in case you didn’t already figure that out.

She said, “L was totally cool with it. The first time I mentioned us planning to get together, he was like, wait. Hold on. Betsy’s a killer student. We can’t lose her.”

I responded:

Yeah. So I misjudged that whole thing. They were the ones worried about MY opinion? Please. Have they not yet sniffed me out for the nerd that I am?

When Mrs. Instructor initially mentioned all this, I asked her, “He really said, ‘I love Betsy’?” Indeed he did.

Awwwwww.

When I later told Hubby how touched I was by that, he said, “You say that as though you didn’t already know it.”

“Yeah, I suppose.” I thought back to the time I was the last to walk off the mat after class. Instructor fist bumped me and said quietly, “Betsssyyyy,” the way you only say the name of a friend.

“But it’s still nice to hear it,” I told Hubby.

“I get that,” he said, looking at me pointedly.

“Oh, would you like to hear it too?”

He gave a shy nod.

I dropped what I was doing, sidled up to him, sloooooowwwwlllly lowered myself onto his lap, gave him my best heavy-lidded sultry look, leaned in close and whispered, “I love Betsy.”

I didn’t actually do that, but only because I didn’t think of it in time. Instead I just said the line while slopping leftover mashed potatoes into a Tupperware.

Because that’s true romance.

Trivia time!

The answer to the last post’s question was goblins! Well done!

New question:

This American city was historically known as the Rubber Capital of the World.

And fun fact, I did my first year of college here while a senior in high school. (Like I said, nerd.)

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68 responses »

  2. Is it Akron? I might know that because I live in a neighboring state . Sounds like a great play date for all of you and happy no one was arrested, sounds like a good day to me!)

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  3. I love B but don’t let things get weird ❤️❤️😆❤️❤️

    You are made of braver and sterner stuff than I … I would be wary about my worlds colliding, what more a play date?!!!

    It is precious to find like-minded folks though, especially those whom our families can all enjoy together. And all that affirmation going around, gotta be worth the risk, right?

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  6. Sounded like a fun day, Betsy! Even though it did quite a bit rowdy. Makes for a fun outing and story. 😆

    And as someone that works in public libraries, I love the t shirts!

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  10. Finally, a trivia question I know! My hometown and place I earned my college degree, Akron, Ohio. I once did a loving post about the Rubber Capital of the World and most of my commenters thought that moniker was really bizarre. Because their minds went to a dirty place. This says more about my followers than me!

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    • I absolutely 100% was thinking of you when I wrote in that question, almost mentioning you directly as I did so, because I was sure you’d be all over this. 🙂

      Also, gross. I did not think of if that way. Your followers are weirdos. Myself included. But for different reasons. 😉

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  12. What a great bunch of stories! I especially laughed hard at your description of how you told the Mr that you loved him. And then the reality of it. Because yeah, that IS true romance.

    Mrs B gave me a card one time that said “Love Happens in the Little Moments” and man, I’ve kept that card ever since. The day in and day out really cements our bond…

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  17. Between the nudity, wet t-shirt contests, sultry looks, and condoms (rubber capital?!), I daresay there’s a modicum of edginess to this post we don’t usually see from Betsy.

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  19. It’s interesting how blog posts based on real life can turn out, start with friendly martial arts, end with mashed potatoes.

    Akron is the answer to your question. I knew this without cheating by reading other comments, btw. I’d be a pretty sad excuse of an Ohioan if I didn’t.

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    • You Ohioans have a distinct advantage on this question. Sort of like, when at trivia night out here, the question was the Rock and Roll Capital. That’s my home city! Had that one in the bag.

      All good stories should end with mashed potatoes, AB. 😉

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  22. Betsy, bless! Isn’t that typical of us humans, to doubt ourselves first and only later realise the truth! What a fun day with you all together, nobody weirded out and just warmth and friendship – perfect! Haha! The photo has me smiling – you’re well known for your headlocks and the toddler looks like she’s going to learn real fast and ‘defend’ her mother!

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    • Thank you for that insightful comment, Annika. Yes, hopefully no one was too weirded out. 😉 We had a good time. The Mrs. told me later that her older daughter said, “That boy is the bestest,” so that was nice. And it was good for him to be the big kid for a rare change. Yes, the poor little girl wondering what is happening there! I hope she soon realized it was all okay.

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  23. So…what were you having with the mash potatoes? Too curious for my own good! Since I’m reading these backwards I have the trivia answers in advance. It does make me feel smarter. Just sayin. I love Betsey too! Hugs, C

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  25. Pingback: Best laid (sneaky Christmas) plans | Writing and Martial Arts

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