For a while Buffy was stubborn and stuck to the notion that she could have a normal life and be the Slayer. With Riley, it seemed like it was possible. She could be a normal girl, with a normal boyfriend and do normal stuff. And then, at the end of the day, she and her normal guy could go out and fight evil together.
Now, even she would admit, she'd romanticised the whole thing.
She was always going to be the one who couldn't do the 'normal' stuff, couldn't be the normal girl. She couldn't leave to go off on those road trips, couldn't travel and see things, couldn't have a normal married life (if she could even find a decent not-dead guy to have that with), it was all just pipe dreams.
Until really recently.
"Well, y'know, being dead kind of puts it all in perspective." And getting past the idea that this was all there was for her, one battle after another after another. "I could be an army general. In Cleveland. At night. In graveyards." Probably wouldn't stick.
"But hey, at least you get your dream job, right? L.A must be pretty great. Shallow parties with fancy food that no one eats because they're starving themselves and ritzy get togethers so that everyone can bitch about each other." Sounded more and more like high school.