It was time for Kevin to meet the parents.
At some point late in the semester, he had concocted a plan to get out to Idaho for Christmas. It involved tagging along with a friend from Pensacola to Dallas, a short flight from Dallas to Salt Lake City, and a bus ride from Salt Lake City to Idaho Falls, where I was to pick him up and drive him three hours to my hometown (yes, my parents live in the middle of nowhere).
I figured if he was willing to go through this travel gauntlet, he must really like me.
Now, I feel I must explain something. His intention for making the trip was actually to ask my father if he could marry me, which sounds a little frightening considering the fact that we had been dating all of a few days. But we had agreed that we did not want to date one another, in the traditional, casual sense, that is. (We did, of course, want to go on dates.) We had agreed that a courtship was probably a better option...kind of an all or nothing approach. So he wanted to meet my father from the beginning to obtain his permission to not only date me, but marry me....eventually. He was making his intentions very clear.
Very Jane Austen-ish. Love it.
So anyway. There I was, sitting at the greyhound bus stop in Idaho Falls, with three of my very good friends who had agreed to come with me to pick up this guy I had somehow snagged in Florida. At long last his bus pulled in, and there he was, in my state, just 3 hours from my house. It was fairly surreal, actually. Up to this point I had two separate lives and they were about to collide.
I have a picture someone took of me as he walked up, but I just cannot post it because I look like I'm in excruciating pain because of the ridiculously cheesy grin on my face...It's the worst picture of me. Ever.
Miraculously we made it home through a nasty snowstorm. Probably because I made one of my friends drive home so I could snuggle with my hunky boyfriend. Nice friend, I am.
(OMG is that a scrunchie?! That is sooo 1990s...)
After we dropped everyone off, we headed home. The introductions went off without a hitch, and he didn't turn around and run out the door. Success!
Now, I must say that I love my family, dearly. But we all know that each family has their own...um...peculiarities, which remain hidden until that fateful time when an outsider wants to join it. That's probably why meeting the family is such a big step...and why there are so many romantic comedies about it.
He fit in perfectly. He's got a knack for adaptation, let me tell you...
My brothers even liked him.
He hadn't brought a winter hat with him, so I think my mom pulled out this one for him to wear on his various outdoor excursions into the Idaho wilderness. I was slightly mortified.
(And yes, he's cooking for the family...)
He wore it with pride the whole trip. Even when we went snowboarding together.
What a guy.
He got "the talk" out of the way fairly quickly. He and my dad locked themselves in the office and didn't come out for hours. Meanwhile, I was dying a thousand deaths. Turns out, they got the business settled within the first 20 minutes, and then just sat there chatting.
My dad said yes, by the way.
Soon after, my parents pulled out the nice China, made a lovely dinner, and read a beautiful blessing they had written to us by candlelight. We had them read it at our wedding.
Did I mention that I love my family?
I do.
To be continued...
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