Monkey Suit

Do you want to know something scandalous (or just sad) about us? Well, not all of us; just Ryan and me? We are both Seminary dropouts. Well, he was more of a dropout. I was more of a non-participant after a somewhat defunct year of at-home study. Either way, neither of us is a Seminary grad. It's a badge of dishonor we've bonded over, but hopefully not a family tradition we'll pass on to the kids.

Having told you that, let me also tell you that Ryan LOVED Seminary, and he LOVES teaching Seminary. Now, he has never technically been a Seminary teacher, but he did do a short stint as a replacement a few years back in Alabama when a teacher got mad and quit with about 6 weeks left in the school year. Also, he was a frequent fill in for the subsequent teacher who liked to take Fridays off quite often.

So, for a couple of years in Alabama, I'd say that Ryan was a sort of adjunct Seminary teacher. He went to all the trainings and meetings, he has all the manuals, and we have always assumed he'd get to be a real Seminary teacher one day. Now, I cannot say that would be a particularly good idea, given that the early morning routine and his narcolepsy don't exactly compliment one another, but I digress. . . .

So, here are a few things Ryan loves about Seminary:

1. Time spent really getting to know the scriptures - the most obvious one, I think.
2. Getting to see and know teenagers when they are not being punks. He's always amazed at how different kids are when they are in Seminary as opposed to any other time he sees them.
3. Blessings - we need 'em!

Anyway, today Ryan had the chance to fill in for the Seminary teacher here, and I watched him as he got ready. He put on a suit and tie and got his things together before he left the house. As I watched him, I remembered another, sort of perverse, pleasure he gets from the occasional substitute gig.

Ryan's dress code at work is business casual, so he wears khakis and a buttoned up shirt most days. If he ever dresses up beyond that, for instance to teach Seminary, people get a little curious, and Ryan will normally just say something like, "Oh, I just felt like dressing up today." I asked him why he doesn't just explain why he's dressed up (once it was for a funeral even), and he said he likes to keep them on their toes. Yeah, so he actually likes to put on a suit and get his boss sweating over whether he has a job interview at lunch. And he never goes back to explain it either. His last boss in Georgia was to the point of paranoia toward the end (of course, Ryan was doing plenty of job interviews back then, just never when they thought he was) and once accused him of doing a phone interview at work when he was actually just having a casual chat with his dad about their respective jobs.

So, there you have it. My straight-laced husband does indeed pull the occasional stunt. I think it's kind of cute. I mean, you might as well have a little fun with your coworkers. And I think the monkey suit gimmick is a little more polite than his habit of eating nothing but egg salad when he has to sit in meetings all day with people who have made his job more complicated than it should be. You don't need to be a Seminary grad to know what that's all about, right?