Today, my wife and I took a personal day, together.

#awwwhowsweet

Now, it’s not as if we got to “pick” our day. We received an email about our days which were difficult getting subs and my wife go the same email in her district as well. She actually emailed the person in charge of subs and said “when can I take a personal day,” and when she found her day, I went to our secretary and did the same thing.

Thus, our day together.

We spent the day being “tourists” in the city where I grew up. Many years ago, we were able to take our sixth graders to a historical Grout Museum and the Sullivan Brother’s Iowa Veterans Museum. The veteran’s museum was new to me and my wife had never visited either, so that was our first stop. I miss this field trip because it was always a great end of the year trip, we learned much about the settlers who’d come both, to Iowa and to Waterloo, and stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home (a favorite of the sixth graders). Going in as an adult, it just was different because there’d been many changes to the exhibits and to see them through the eyes of an adult, not just a teacher, was wonderful. The veteran’s museum was completely new since our last time there, so being able to see how Iowans played important roles in many of the conflicts made me proud to be an Iowan and proud of my father, a Vietnam veteran who is dealing with the after affects of Agent Orange.

We went to a local Irish pub, Jameson’s Public House. Going to Iowa Irish Fest, we’ve always walked past this place, but never gone in. Oh, how we were missing out! I had the “Bangers and Mash” (Irish sausage and mashed potatoes, covered in a brown gravy) and my wife a tenderloin with a Guinness glaze (OMG delicious). It was nice to sit and eat at our leisure, not pressed for time, pressed for making copies or phone calls or whatever else we couldn’t do during our day.

We did the mundane, we hit Target, Bath and Body Works, filled the truck up with gas at Sam’s Club, then started the trek home. Our path took us to my parents’ house to see if our truck’s electrical system would hook up with their travel trailer (we might be on our way out East this summer). Something is amiss in our truck as we could get the brake lights, the turn signals, the hazards, to all work, but the running lights and tail lights wouldn’t work.

#damnit

We’ll see if this fixed without too much cash!

This is what personal days are for and it’s our “Teacher Appreciation Day” because, well, if you are an educator, you know! 🙂

#alwayskeepingitpositive