Mr. Goatee meets the parents

Meeting the parents of someone you are in a relationship with can be a crucial day in the history of the couple. Having a guy who you are not in a relationship with but casually dating meet your parents can be a crisis. Yesterday, Mr. Goatee met my parents. It's not something that I would have wanted so soon, but it was necessity. My sister was moving out of her house and into the sorority house, and my mom, grandfather and stepfather-like figure desperately needed help. I had to oversee a photo shoot yesterday afternoon, and couldn't be there. Mr. Goatee wouldn't accept my excuses for him not to help, and so, there he was, alone, with my family. And there I was, at the photo shoot, in panic. Would he make all those dumb little jokes that he makes when he gets so nervous or start laughing his laugh so loud that people start to look? Would my mom ask him horrible questions about his upbringing, or god forbid, introduce him as my "boyfriend"? You see, it wouldn't be all that bad if my mom wasn't how she is. Goatee sends me tulips for my birthday, and a few days later I get a birthday card from aunt, uncle and cousins who don't even live in this state with a little note at the bottom that says "a little birdie told us you got tulips from a certain someone! Tulips aren't even in season... hmm.. must be serious?" Then, on my birthday last weekend I went to lunch with my family back in my hometown, and my mom actually has the gall to ask if I was bringing Mr. Goatee home with me. OF COURSE NOT! was my reaction. Then, during lunch, she proceeds to tell my grandmother that Mr. Goatee is the guy I'm "talking to" and then tells her that "talking to" is the "new" phrase for dating but not seriously dating and she looked so smug and proud of herself and urgh! At that point my poor grandmother looked a little confused and said she didn't understand "young people" these days because she could "talk to" anyone and it didn't mean anything scandalous was going on. .... So, We got through the afternoon fine. I got done with the photo shoot, helped my sister move. Got embarrassed when no one in my family actually could call me by name yesterday. (I'm always either my sister's name or a combination of my name and hers) and then was a little embarrassed when Mr. Goatee called me "dear" in front of the folks. But, the good thing is, it went (as far as I know) without a hitch. He met my parents. Nothing horrible happened. Now, next weekend, I have to meet his while they are in town. Or, then again, maybe I'll go hide.