As relationships progress, there is often a point where you get to Meet the Fam, and yesterday was my time.
Not sure if I mentioned this, but Rose's parents aren't exactly the kind of people I would choose to be around. The reason is that I was told that one is ignorant and the other is a bigot. Her father once said that if either of his daughters ever brought a Black Man home that he wouldn't let them in the house and wouldn't speak to them until the Black Man was gone. Her mother just says and thinks a bunch of things that are so ridiculous that I can't even repeat them here (mainly because I have a tendency to block out such things).
Her father is also dying of kidney cancer. Rose used to talk about how much she didn't like her parents, but then one night about six weeks ago she started crying and saying how much she wished I could meet her father (formally). About two weeks ago she got a call from her mother saying that her little sister wanted to meet me.
Her 14-year-old sister??
Apparently, she found out that I like and am very knowledgeable about Chrono Trigger, a simply excellent game. Rose's brother is also a big fan, so the mother used her kids to sate her curiosity about the Black Man. Rose was flabbergasted, but ecstatic.
Yesterday was the day. We went out to Ste-Hyacinthe on one of the crappiest days of the past week or so. It was depressingly grey yesterday, and I wasn't looking forward to this anyway, but I was well-prepped:
- Maman: Will ask lots of simple little questions. Just answer them and she'll be happy. Will prepare too much food.
- Papa: Doesn't speak much, very quiet and shy. May bring up his experience in English Canada.
- Frank: Will love me. Loves the same video games as me and is an excellent chess player.
- Natalie: Sweet and friendly, but will only talk to you if you talk to her.
Her mother bought four pies. Four pies! There were spring rolls, imperial rolls, fried rice, a whole meatless Chinese buffet, really. And I ended up sitting there in that chair for two hours talking and talking and listening and playing chess. It was quite fun.
Afterwards we went sightseeeing and ended up at the mall to shop.
When we got home, I took a short nap, then we talked about all manner of things, including the realness of my hair, and the differences between my hair and "normal" hair. It was fine, really; I ended up cutting off one of my more annoying locks and passing it around. They really got a kick out of that.
Basically, I went there and killed. I was described as "perfect". That's both good and bad; the bad is that I have nowhere to grow. Which is perfectly fine for the moment.
