The BF Meets the Parents
My relationship with my parents keeps getting better and better.
My Dad's 50th High School Reunion was being held in New Jersey this past weekend. As they did last year, my parents made plans to stop in Harrisburg on their way back home to South Carolina. We'd had a wonderful time last year.. they stopped on Sunday, I cooked a meal for them, they stayed over and left the next morning. The scenario for this year was pretty much the same, with a notable exception:
Last year, I was a single guy.
I quickly made a decision. My parents have known I've been seeing Mark since the beginning. With this relationship, I applied the "normalcy" criteria... What sort of information would I reasonably share with my parents if I were dating a woman? This, actually, has worked rather well with my parents, as their responses throughout have also seemed "normal" and appropriate. If I had been dating a woman for the past year, is there even any question she'd be meeting my folks this trip? Of course not... and there would be no need to do extensive "set-up", "preparation", or "permission-seeking" either. So I didn't bother.
My folks showed up over an hour early... which wasn't horrible. The house, although extensively cleaned up, was not perfect, and I was sweaty and scruffy from doing my demented "Hazel" routine all morning. No problem.. I just hopped in the shower and cleaned up. Once I came back down, we did the hug and kiss thing, then settled down for a long, warm chat about the reunion and things back home.
As I went into the kitchen to start dinner, we continued our conversation. Right on schedule, Mark appeared, bearing homemade bread and dessert and a sweet smile.
Introductions were made, and nobody missed a beat. My dad continued telling his quirky stories, my mom jumped right in to a nice conversation with my sweetie. As I strained to hear from the kitchen, I found that everybody was conversing naturally, with no awkward silences. I breathed a sigh of relief, and went back to meal prep. (To see my dinner menu, click [more] below.)
Dinner went smoothly, with lots of animated conversation, and everyone appreciated the food. Since Mark had a birthday party to attend (brother Steve's 45th), I walked him to the car, gave him a quick kiss and decided the meeting was an unqualified success.
Back inside, both my parents indicated they had enjoyed meeting Mark. We went for a walk around the neighborhood, I showed my folks the new homes being built on the last patch of undeveloped land here.
Since my parents had been out late the night before, they went to bed fairly early. I stayed up for quite a while, talking excitedly by phone to Mark about how well the evening had turned out. Who says people can't grow and change? Eleven years ago, my parents refused to meet Kerry, my then-boyfriend. At the time, the rejection was absolutely crushing, and, for a time, I'd written them off as hopelessly set in their ways.
You can't imagine how glad I am to be wrong.
Dinner:
Fetzer Sundial Chardonnay (1999)
Herbed Salmon with zucchini and carrots
Homemade Crumb Cake