I was really, really dreading spending Thanksgiving with the boyfriend's family. It was the first time I was going to meet any of them. Hell, afterward I realized that it was the first time I had ever met a boyfriend's parents. Despite my apprehensions, everything worked out really, really well. Surprisingly, relievingly so. Here are six things about Thanksgiving that I am thankful for.
1. Traffic was really, really light on the drive to Initials' sister's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We were able to get in-and-out of Indiana, the armpit of America, in less than a half hour.
2. His sister got a new puppy a month ago, which we found out about when we pulled into their driveway. Any time there was an awkward silence, someone could be counted on to do something that drew the attention of the 8-month old terrier, who required a lot of attention.
3. His brother-in-law had a new 42 inch plasma TV with satellite and blu-ray technology. While all of the women-folk (and my boyfriend) were futzing around in the kitchen, instead of feigning an interest in football, the brother-in-law showed us the wonders of Bond on blu-ray. Casino Royale was the perfect combination of cool explosions, attractive people, and something everyone had already seen but hadn't seen in a while.
4. Every time I had a chance to check my email, I had another person who emailed or commented a line of support. Thanks for keeping your fingers crossed for me, guys.
5. My boyfriend is a talker. He comes from a family of talkers. As such, all I really had to do was smile, nod, say 'uh-huh' every so often, and come up with the name of the actor that they were thinking of (it was Steve Carell in the movie remake of Get Smart).
6. My boyfriend, who considers himself bisexual, has horrible taste in women. As such, the bar was set really, really low. Like, ridiculously so.
I didn't leave in the middle of the Thanksgiving dinner because my mom was a better cook, as one of his ex-girlfriends did for Easter a few years back when the ham was not up to her standards. I didn't send text messages during the meal. I didn't spend the morning chain-smoking on the patio.
Sure, it took his parents a while to get used to the fact that their son was dating a guy. But they realized that while I may not be a girl, at least I'm a decent human being. Which it turns out, was all that was needed.
