Arranged Marriage

My parents called me a few weeks ago and told me (half-jokingly) that they met my future husband and they'd be happy to arrange it all for me. Not sure how to respond I think I said, Thanks. Then we went on to talk about other things. The next time I called they brought it up again. This time coming right out and offering to bring back arranged marriage. I laughed and wished them the best of luck in their adventure.

I drove home on Saturday. I always love coming home because it is a chance for me to break away from a lot of the pressure I put on myself in Boston. I really needed this break. On Sunday my parents again, told me about this boy and that they'd invite him over if it was OK with me. I said that I'd be happy to meet him. They had already called him and he was going to come over for dinner on Monday night and have family home evening with us. Hmm, I thought, not quite the meeting I had in mind. I was thinking later in the week when my sister was here (flying out on Wed!!) and my brother could be here (wedding on Monday) we could invite a lot of our friends over and have crabs...we'll probably do it anyway. There are some people I haven't seen in a while in DC who I wanted to invite anyway and then it would be like a social and not so awkward....BUT NO!!!!

Monday night I found myself sitting at my dinner table with my mom and dad, this boy, my younger sister Amanda, and my grandmother. It was difficult because this is not something my parents do. Forget playing anything cool, it was interrogation time. Both my parents asked him tons of questions, things I know they already knew the answers to, just for my benefit. It was so funny to me. A few times I even laughed out loud. He was a great sport though, kind of funny. I think he's probably been in this situation before. So he talked to my parents and I sat there eating my dinner.

(side note, my grandmother just came out of her room, humming the wedding march song...think I'm paranoid?)

After a while my brother and his wife came over and we all played bocce in the back yard. It was actually fun. During this time I was able to talk to him a little, so that was good. It's hard when you know your parents are probably going to give you feedback later, like why didn't you..., or why did you say....! This did come out later when it was obvious that my mother was not pleased with how I presented my undergraduate education at UVSC. That's what I said. I got my bachelors at UVSC. Then my mother proceeded to talk about honors and achievements and my choices of graduate schools. I love my mother. I was proud of myself for just smiling and saying, yes, that's true. Slightly awkward.

We also had scripture reading and analyzing time. I mean, this was FHE!!! Overall, it was a surprisingly pleasant evening. This guys was nice, funny, kind of charming. I can see why my parents were so excited about him. I've also had a lot of fun with some friends telling them about this and playing our new favorite game...Bringing Back A.M. Sometimes other people do see things we don't see.

end note: After he left my mother did say, "When he asked you how long you'd be here why didn't you say until the end of the month!!" I said, "I said this weekend, maybe Monday or Tuesday because that's the truth... when I got here I was planning on leaving Sat. Now that Sarah's coming I was thinking Sunday or Monday...don't worry mom, it'll be OK." she says, "well i just think you could have made yourself more available............." and it goes on!!!