If you’re married to a teacher, you’ve likely noticed the ways teaching during the pandemic has taken a toll on your loved one. Between converting hard copy materials into electronic files and relying on unfamiliar technology to do their job, they’re working more than their share of overtime and it shows. Spouses all over the country are noting the following telltale signs in their beloved frazzled pandemic teachers:

  1.  “Teacher words” have infiltrated your marriage and taken on a meaning of their own. They may have asked you, “Hey, baby wanna Kahoot?” in a sexy voice.
  2. There are now dots and arrows on your kitchen floors to direct foot traffic and maintain social distancing.
  3. They wake in the middle of the night sweating and yelling, “You’re on mute!”
  4. You watch them physically recoil at the mere mention of a “Zoom party.”
  5. They have back-up plans for every-day activities, like getting groceries, that include at least three different ways to accomplish the same task.
  6. You’re pretty sure their caffeine is supplied intravenously at this point.
  7. They don’t go anywhere without their bevy of laptops and chargers.
  8. Their extensive teacher mask collection now warrants its own section of the closet.
  9. Survival mode is their Word of the Year.
  10. It’s not unusual to find them running in a circle, a physical manifestation of the hybrid hamster wheel experience.
  11. Every other chair at your dining table may be covered with a painter’s tape X.
  12. The money your family used to spend on going out to eat or to the movies is now spent on hand sanitizer, disposable masks, and Clorox wipes for the classroom.
  13. It takes about an hour for their “mask lines” to disappear when they come home from school.
  14. They’ve woken up in the night in a panic to redo their lesson plans because they forgot to accommodate distance learners.
  15. They hit the deck anytime someone sneezes in the house.
  16. They are “end-of-the-year” tired every Friday.
  17. They’ve updated their resume a dozen times in the last seven months.

It’s not easy being married to a teacher right now. They’re so consumed with the job that they don’t have much left for their families at the end of the day. Here’s to the day we return to a normal level of exhaustion and overwhelm!

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What It’s Really Like Being Married to a Teacher During a Pandemic