Meeting his family

Not to brag or anything, but I've always been one of the kids that other parents like. I say "thank you" and "no, thank you," and call them "Mr. ____" and "Mrs. ____." So, generally, when I meet parents and family, I'm pretty relaxed. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Well, on the way over to Brian's parents, I was nervous and fidgety, and really kind of anxious about the whole thing. And then I was weirded out by being anxious, 'cause that's rather unlike me...

In any case, his mom made these cream puffs, see? These awesome things that are twice baked so the dough part doesn't turn soft when she puts the whipped cream in. And then she topped it all off with melted dark chocolate.

In all seriousness, the puffs, spinach-artichoke dip, cold cuts, etc., were great, but the important thing was how nice and welcoming everything was. His dad is great. Navy man who settled down when he found the right one. The kind they don't make anymore. His mom still called him "Babe" after 36 years of marriage (at one point, she said, "Babe, are you comfortable?" when his dad had changed chairs). His mom and I share our enjoyment of family pictures, so she took me around, explaining little tidbits of this uncle, that cousin. His little sister (now 27 yrs old) delighted in telling me stories of their childhood capers, particularly those that showed Brian in...shall we say, the least favorable/most embarassing light possible? She also promised to dig up childhood pictures and videos, of the kind that Brian would probably prefer be destroyed. he he he. Methinks I have an ally in that family. ;-)

Later, too, somebody started talking about Pooh. It seems Brian would NOT sleep without him, and so there were various anecdotes when this created a problem, such as when his mom had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night because Brian had had his tonsils out, couldn't find Pooh, and was thus unable to sleep. Or another time, when Pooh had accidentally been left behind in a neighbor's yard, so a search party, complete with flashlights and volunteers, had to be mounted to scour the neighborhood. I even got to see Pooh. I gotta say, a woman that can run downstairs and find a relic of childhood at a moment's notice must have a pretty organized basement (the one part of the house I didn't see).

Ultimately, the evening was very pleasant, and I came away thinking, "There's a lot of love there. A lot of love."

As my relationship with Brian continues to develop, I can honestly say that I look forward to getting to know his family, too. And to more of those cream puffs. According to his little sister, the verdict came back that I'm a keeper (she called us after we had left to let us know). So maybe I'll get some more! (Hey, you can see the pic. Do I look like someone that turns cream puffs down, particularly really good ones???) :-)