Day 231 - Be Completely at Ease with Someone Else's Family

Date: August 25th, 2010

My family is very friendly.  For years, whenever I've gotten to know people, I've eventually invited them to come hang out with my folks, get dinner with my folks or visit my folks at their house in Fenton.  See, I enjoy my parents - I find them delightful - I choose to be around them on a regular basis.  I know, weird right?

That being said, in my whole life, I've never felt as comfortable around anyone else's family as I have around my parents.  I suppose that's fairly normal, given that I know them better than anyone else.  The reason its noteworthy though is that I've spent a fair amount of time around other people's families in my life.  In addition to being around parents of friends throughout high school and college, I had the same boyfriend (on and off) for almost a decade, so I spent a fairly hefty chunk of time with his family.

In all those years, while I've really adored my friends families, I've still felt like I had to be on good guest behavior.  The same goes for my ex-boyfriend's family.  Even up until the last time I saw them, I felt like I had to talk and act a certain way that wasn't entirely myself.  I was making an impression, if that makes sense. I expected that "on your best behavior" thing to persist for a good deal of time with Justin's family since, well, I'm just now getting to know them.

That's why, when I looked around his dad's house on Wednesday, I was shocked at how at ease I felt sitting on the couch and watching TV.  The jokes I cracked were the first ones that came to my head.  The way I sat was the way I sit at home.  The conversation I had with Justin was the kind I'd have if we were sitting by ourselves.  That was the first realization I had.  The second was that I'd never felt that comfortable with someone else's family before.

As I write this entry, Justin and I have decided to start a more serious relationship (he's no longer my not-a-boyfriend), but the day we spent with his family was about a week before we made that decision.  I found myself delighted at the fact that I felt so at ease.  It was, in truth, a small but important part of the reason we got more serious.  The biggest reason being, of course, that Justin is amazing.  But that's neither here nor there. 

What does all this have to do with the larger, meta-experience that is my project?  Really nothing besides the fact that I'd never experienced it before and it made me super happy.  Not every story has a moral - some days are just wonderful days.