Meeting the family (Leah)

Sorry Marcia, I couldn't help repeating your title - it seemed fitting. Last night I went out with Phil to the theater. His family has season tickets. The youngest brother sat on my other side and asked me if it was weird to go on a date with my date's whole family. I said it was, but made the point that at my age nothing really was weird and I was okay with anything - which is pretty much true. I just worried about Phil later hearing that I was critical. I enjoyed the play, I enjoyed meeting the family, I took it all in stride and didn't make a big deal out of it. But I did warn the younger brother that he probably shouldn't try dating a girl in the same manner - he was still too young. I hope he got me. Wouldn't you all agree that dating looks different at our age? The "normal" dates really aren't so normal and just spending time with Phil was good. I hope the brother understood.

My favorite part of the night was when Phil made a point of saying my dress was pretty. It was a new dress - but he didn't necessarily know that - and it WAS pretty. I was impressed with his ability to give me a compliment. He won some major points. Which reminds me of a really bad date I had when I was younger (remember the dating rules are a bit different now). The guy was a blind date. We were at the theater waiting for our movie to start. He turned to me and said, "Oh, yeah, I wanted to tell you that you look really nice." I was very annoyed at that compliment - he hadn't seen me before and didn't know how "nice" I really looked. Actually, I was wearing one of my more comfortable outfits (not necessarily my best looking - just comfortable - it was back in the day when I took dates for granted and felt no need to make the best of them) and it had been a rainy day so I felt a bit bedraggled. I didn't feel like I looked nice so his compliment seemed totally fake. He lost major points. I just laugh at the fact that essentially the same compliment can win a guy points or lose him points depending on time/place/delivery.

meeting the family (marcia)

So a couple of weeks ago Clue and I flew out to California for a quick weekend trip home. Several of my brothers and sisters were in town so it was a good time to go and meet the family.

In spite of having 14 people under my parents’ roof at once, we had a great time. It was one-part chaos, one-part great food, two-parts good fun. Clue continues to do well as he dives deeper and deeper into my world. My parents picked us up from the airport and I could see right away that they would get along. Not that I had any worries – I knew they would love Clue and he would love them. But it’s always unnerving when you meet the family and the parents and although you couldn’t tell, Clue was a bit nervous.

So the weekend included dinner with the family on Friday night, walking the Farmers Market downtown Saturday morning (a family favorite), a jaunt to Santa Cruz to play on the beach and throw the brass ring on the famous Boardwalk Carousel, church and more food with cousins, aunts and uncles on Sunday.

It felt great to have him there with my family. It was a short trip, but by the time the weekend came to a close, Clue felt completely at home.

Needless to say, things are going well!