Meeting the Parents

Jeff took me to meet his parents today!

The whole thing started after church. We were meeting Don and Mom and Derrick for brunch to celebrate Father's Day. As usual, we were there before them, so while we waited, Jeff decided to call his dad and see what his plans were for the day. When he discovered that the family would all be getting together later that day, he put the phone down and asked if I'd be interested in going over and meeting them. When I said sure, he got back on the phone and told his dad he would be "bringing a guest."

Brunch with my family was fun. Jeff seems very comfortable with my family. He and Don have a lot in common and they had plenty to talk about. And Jeff told me later that he enjoyed getting the chance to get to know mom a little better too (he said she seemed a little more comfortable on this visit. Probably due to the smaller group and the lack of "first impression" pressure).

After brunch, we went our separate ways for a couple of hours. It gave us a chance to go home, change out of our church clothes, and each grab a small catnap. Sunday catnaps are very important.

I awoke from my nap to the sound of the doorbell ringing, followed quickly (and loudly) by the barks of two dogs who were just surprised out of a deep slumber themselves. By the time I stumbled over to the door and opened it up, I realized that I had slept too long and was going to have to figure out how to shake the drowsiness quickly so I don't make a bad impression to the parents.

I was able to rouse myself on the drive over to their house. As I had said before, his childhood home was not very far away from my childhood home, so the second we turned onto the familiar street of 39th, my brain woke right up. As we drove down, I pointed out the road that lead to my old church and looked at all the changes that the houses on my street had undergone.

When we got to the house, Jeff took me through a quick refresher of the members of his family (mother, father, brother, sister-in-law, and nieces) and we headed in.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the room was his youngest niece (age 14?) sitting across the room, grinning up at her uncle and this strange woman following behind him. She had a very bright, very sweet smile that literally felt blinding to me. Jeff started making the introductions and my eyes adjusted to the bright smile in time to catch the look that swept quickly around the room: "Did you know he was dating someone???"

Well, that wasn't what I was expecting. As we sat down on the couch, I gave him a sideways glance and asked very softly "did you even tell your parents about me?" His sheepish and apologetic look told me all I needed to know. Perfect. Throw shy Deema to the unsuspecting family. This should be interesting. . .

Ready, set, GO!

Actually, it wasn't that bad. His dad is very much into photography, so their house is filled with beautiful photos, which gave me an instant connection with him. Phew, one parent down, one to go.

Luckily, his dad provided the perfect way in. At some point, his dad commented that I look familiar to him and wondered if we've ran into each other before. Jeff said, "tell her where you used to go to church" and wouldn't you know, it was the same little church I had JUST pointed out to Jeff on the way over. They started going there shortly after I moved to Tennessee.

Suddenly I was at complete ease. Even though I had never met these people, they were friends with the people who was part of my life as I was growing up. In a weird, roundabout way, they were practically already family. I was able to chat easily and comfortably after that. And in a HUGE effort to make a good impression, I even forced myself to remain engaged and responsive when his dad decided to take a rabbit trail onto a political soapbox.

Jeff told me after we left that he could tell they liked me. Phew! What a relief.

A Very Busy Saturday!

With all the stuff going on in our lives right now, Jeff and I realized that we would have to "schedule" our time together. As sad as that sounds, it seems to work for us. Except for one small problem: so much of our scheduled together time is tied up in other activities (church, bible study, volleyball) that we are left with only one day free and too many activities to try and pack into it.

Today for example:

My friends Ron and Christy had invited Jeff and I over for dinner so that they could get a chance to get to know him. But Jeff had an "End of the School Year" party with his coworkers from the school that day and had already invited me to go with him. So we had to figure out how to work both activities into one day.

We started with an early dinner with Ron and Christy and Corban and Sam. I was rather impressed with how easily he connected with Corban. They got along really well and even built a Lego building together, so Christy is pretty sure that he got Corban's thumbs up. :)

Ron and Christy both seem to like Jeff (because, honestly, who wouldn't?) and he got along really well with them. Jeff told me later that he'd like to get a chance to talk more to Ron. I think they will have fun discussing guns and other boy stuff.

After we spent a few hours with Ron and Christy, we headed out to the company party. It was at the principal's house which was a very large property. There was a band of staff members playing when we arrived (we were very late due to our dinner engagement) in the barn. Jeff introduced me to a few people and we wandered around the party to see what all was going on. Jeff's coworker had built a HUGE fire that could cook me from ten feet away. After the band finished playing, they brought out the karoke, which Jeff was ready to take part of. He sang a couple of times, and I have to admit, surprised me with his voice.

He's so cute that I even permitted him to sing that song; the one I hate to hear; the one I hate so much that I was going to ban it from my ball. Blah. But he sang it with a few other coworkers and I have to grudgingly say it wasn't half bad. Considering.

I'm so lucky to have met a guy so willing to compromise with me. I'm not used to having someone else put my activities as a priority on his list of things to do. It's a very nice change.

(And for the record, now that I've written about it, that stupid song is now running through my head, which is one of the main reasons that I HATE that song so much!)

Not Who I Thought She Was. . .

We've been asked so many times what kind of dog Lucca is and we're never sure, so Derrick decided it was time to do a DNA test on her. So the last time we took the dogs in for a vet visit, we asked them about the test. The vet told us that yes, they could do that and hey, we were in luck because the test was on sale (what does that even mean???) We figured since we were getting a deal on it, and because some of our neighbors were insistent that she was part Pit Bull (and treating her with the fear that comes with the prejudice), we decided to have Jade tested too.

It took many weeks to get the results back. MANY weeks. But finally, the big news arrived. And I'm so amazed at what we learned that I feel the need to share our findings:

Lucca: Our hyper-active teddy bear turns out to actually be a mix of three different types of dogs.

Bull terrier + schnauzer + chow chow = Lucca

     

Interesting. It explains a bit about her personality. Especially the digging in my walls part (yeah, she's currently working on another hole. She's sneaky and onrey.)

The big surprise was in Jade's results. We'd been told that she was part Lab, part Boxer. We didn't really think she was Pit Bull as some others seemed to. But in reality:

Jade = Mostly black Lab (at least 75%) + American Bull Dog (at least 25%)

I feel like my world has been turned upside down. I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that Jade has no Boxer, but instead Bull Dog. I mean, it makes sense. I can see the traits in both her body and her personality. But for over a year, I thought she was one thing and it turns out that she's something else all together. Wow. . .

Wild Waves

My church group did a trip up to Wild Waves! So much fun. And the best part: we actually got SUN!

I wasn't sure if Jeff would be able to go with me. He started classes this week and we weren't sure he would have all his homework caught up. Happily, he was able to get everything done so I could spend the day playing with my new guy.

It was a great day. We rode rides and splashed in the wave pool (I didn't take my swimsuit, but I did roll up my pants and wade in a little ways).

 We spent the day hanging out with Danielle, who is part of our Friday night Bible study.She's a lot of fun.

Eventually the activities and hot sun started getting to us and we found our way back to the rest of the group in the tiny bit of shade that we could find. We lounged around on the grass for a bit, talking, looking over our pictures, and napping slightly.

Dinner was BBQ ribs. Yum!

Then we sat around and played some card games.

The trip home was pretty quiet as most of us was so worn out we slept most of the way home. It was a great day and a lot of fun to hang out with Jeff for the entire day.

Spring Thing

Ah, the end of the academic year at the college. A time for relaxation. A time for fun. A time to prepare for graduation. 

Just before graduation, the college has its annual Spring Thing. It's a time to celebrate the hard work of the students. It's a big hoopla event that happens in the middle of the day. Because of the timing of the event, I am usually buried in paperwork and miss my opportunity to check it out, but this year I ran up during my lunch hour to see the festivites. 

They had pizza and ice cream and music. There was a rock climbing wall, an obstacle course (in the form of the Titanic), and Sumo wrestling. Oh, and an epic game of Capture the Flag: Pirates vs. Ninjas set up by my my cousin Angie.