meet the suegros

Okay, so I'm not their nuera (yet). And I've already met them. But Saturday will mark the first time I'm flying out to stay with them. And I'm nervous.

I feel like Ben Stiller in "Meet the Parents", like I'll always be living in the shadow of Owen Wilson. I'm worried that I'll come off as if I'm aloof, rude, thoughtless. I feel like I need to live up to some prior version of someone else.

And not to take the blame from myself (because my reactions are ultimately my responsibility), but most of it is cultural and the rest of it is situational.

Cultural: Any time something happens that suggests that he has ever even smiled at someone else, I turn into some caricature of a woman in a novela and I'm all like, "Noooo, me mataaaaaaaas". And I panic and I cry and I react in a completely irrational manner. Oops. Sorry.

Situational: On the other hand, I've dated people where the above things wouldn't even phase me. Oh, you're still in love with your ex? Okay. You think we should take a step back and see other people? Cool. What I'm trying to say is I'm serious about this, in a way that I don't quite understand.

At the end of the day, the people who love me the most know me the best. And if they can love me when I'm cranky and stressed out and out of line, I can be on my best behavior for a week and charm the pants off these folks (not literally...keep your clothes on).

P.S. Thing I'm most excited about: Potentially going on a White House tour. Odds of me seeing Bo Obama? Unlikely, but I'll still keep hoping. First runner up: Tea at the National Cathedral. Second runner up: "Little Shop of Horrors" at Ford's Theatre.