Tuesday, November 29, 2005

family bonding is strange

it's strange when your boyfriend's parents nearly make you cry at the dinner table, but it's even stranger to get along with them fabulously the following year...
i guess it's good to always expect the worst. u dont get disappointed that way ;)
yeah, so i spent thanksgiving w/luis's fam, and it was suprisingly great! first off, i never have any fun whatsoever in florida (aka red state hell) so this experience was new for me in many ways.
luis and i made up on the shuttle to jfk (the best place to have deep conversations about the course of your relationship, clearly) we talked a lot about how to better communicate (in front of tons of ppl squished together on the shuttle no less) and to keep in mind that we may not always be on the same wavelength.. our schedules are so hectic right now that it seems like we are either totally stressed or we totally feel like letting loose, often not at the same time. so we talked about respecting each other's wishes, and if we aren't in synch with one another, to let the other one be. and also to learn how to talk to each other better. so that was good.
as soon as we got to florida, i was hoping for the time to go by quickly. i was expecting to be lectured about everything: how dirty, noisy, blah blah blah nyc is, how i should move down to florida, tips about nursing school, yada yada. but lo and behold, his parents were so much fun and laid back. the mood was light the entire time. i helped mama sanchez cook and she asked me to make stuffing since luis was talking about how good it was when i made it for the pre-thanksgiving bash. then the rest of his family came over and it seemed like everyone was happy to see me. then, the compliments came! (family + compliments= what's this?) mama sanchez kept telling me how beautiful i was, how much the family loves me, etc. we talked a lot about her experiences as a doctor, and i felt like i learned a lot about her in general. it was really cool. it also made me see where luis comes from. no one's family is perfect, but understanding why ppl do what they do or how they were raised can be really enlightening (as cheesy as that sounds). and dont get me wrong, there are still some things that i dont like about his parents (i.e. the whole republican thing.. right) but it's just a sigh of relief to have such a good time and get along so well after the experience that was last year. plus i really am starting to feel "a part of the family" which is sorta cool i have to admit.
anyway, my parents nearly gave me a heart attack b/c they were thinking about coming to visit us in tampa (they are about 4 hrs away) yikes, i don' t think we're quite ready for the meeting of the parental units. baby steps here, baby steps.. my mom is sorta acting jealous and/or being weird.. for ex, when she asked me about my trip, her first question was, so did they make fun of you, was it horrible? when i told her that no, she's seemed slightly disappointed. *sigh* great. i get one mom to like me and another to give me a hard time. riiight. hopefully she'll be happy when we go down there for xmas.. otherwise, i'm off to aruba for the holidays from now on!