The Good Doctor

My apologies for my extended absence from this blog. I have finally acquired a second job (Nanny take 2), so I went from having most of the afternoon for goofing off to having limited time in the evenings for goofing off, and normally I don't even turn on my home computer. Luckily, a massive snowstorm of Biblical proportions (a whole 4 inches!) has paralyzed the south, giving me several snow days to get you all caught up.

Phoebe: Are you lying? Is this like that time you tried to convince us you were a doctor?
Ross: I am a doctor!

The Cute Neighbor is a doctor. Not a medical doctor, but a doctor like Ross Gellar is a doctor. He has a PhD. From a really good school, in a challenging subject (i.e., not English). He's a smart guy. Obviously this means that technically the title "Dr." goes in front of his name. He, however, thinks this is pretentious and never uses the title. I don't think of him as a doctor. Hell, in warm weather he wears shorts and flip-flops to work.

You know who does think of him as a doctor? My parents. They seem to be thrilled that one of their daughters is dating "a doctor." They refer to his "doctor" status far more than is normal. Odd, considering my dad has the same educational status. It's not like they should be in awe of him.

When they came down to visit and we were all playing cards, at one point my mom announced that it was "Dr. Neighbor's turn." I was really hoping he didn't notice. When I told my dad I was thinking about asking the cute neighbor to take my GREs for me because of my fear of them (joking, obviously) he said that yes, I could just have my "boyfriend, who already has a Ph.D. take them for me." Thanks dad for reminding me that my boyfriend has a Ph.D. And last week, while I was getting ready for our New Year's Eve party, my dad asked me what "the good doctor" was making to bring to the party. It took me a moment to realize who he was talking about. And you know what? That's not the first time he's referred to the cute neighbor as the good doctor! Or just "The Doctor." He's not even a real doctor! In the medical sense anyway! (Although one of his favorite jokes is to use that stupid line, "Trust me, I'm a doctor." Followed by an evil laugh.) I can just picture my parents playing cards with their friends, and saying something along the lines of "You know, Violet's boyfriend. The Doctor..." "Violet spent Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, you know, the doctor?"

Yeah, I really hope they're not doing that. Because if I ever do decide to take him home with me and unexplicably introduce him to the locals, I really don't want them saying to him, "Oh, you're the doctor!" after which he gives me a befuddled look and I make up a story about Grayer dating a doctor or something and they must have them confused. Silly old people.