Meet The Family?

In all the years The Boy and I have known each other, we've yet to do the official "meet the family". Just never got that far, ya know? He is insanely patient and believes that you need to be "sure that this ship will make it across the sea" and I am not nearly as patient and lost interest in the whole thing before we got there.

He has met my family but that was during the time my mom was transitioning into buying a house and I was taking over her townhouse. Even though my mom loves him like a son (and quite possibly more than she loves me) and would give her life if it meant that The Boy and I would be together forever, they don't interact on a regular basis. My sisters can't stand him. They don't really believe he's changed and they know how much gruff I take from my mom because of him. All of my brothers want to punch him in the face (proven by the wall that surrounded me when we crossed The Boy and his female "friend" in the mall last March <--- *this* is a story that I must tell you.) And my daddy, God love him, just wants me to have whatever I want as long as it makes me happy. But he too would punch The Boy in the face if given the green light.

So Sunday, when I went to his flag football game, I didn't expect that I would have an impromptu meet-and-greet with his family. All I wanted to do was strike up a conversation with the two young ladies that were there. It was a very windy day and the three-year-old girl they had with them was cold and hungry. I'm nothing if not prepared so I offered to let her wrap up in my blanket and my banana for a snack. The team had a case of water (and I would fight the man who denied water to a child) so she was all set.

Then half-time came and I was so excited because I thought it was over. I was tired of being cold and ready to go but stuck it out. By now, I've met the young ladies' two brothers and I know that they've come with their dad. We missed most of the game because we were talking but our boys brought it home 14 - 6. With a win like that you can't help but be excited that its over. Get out on top, I say. But one of the girls assured me that there was another game.

My heart broke. I told her that I respected her but I just had to know for myself because when The Boy asked me to come to the game, he didn't say that there'd be two of them. So, when he walked off the field I said, "The Boy, is it over now?" and he replied that the one game was over but they had another immediately following on the opposite field. Then he picked up the toddler I'd been playing with all day.

It clicked.

This little girl was his niece. Which would make these girls his sisters. Those are his brothers. And that man... staring at me... with The Boy's eyes and nose... that's his father. Things were officially awkward. At least for me. The Boy had already walked away like I hadn't been made the focus of his entire family's attention. I felt a fury boiling up inside me and it was stoked by the constant staring. So, I left.

Later that night, he texted me to thank me for coming out to the game which I appreciated. But I also told him how weird it was to have unknowingly been around his family that day. At first, he thought it was funny and that I was overreacting. But I told him that I would never want to meet his family that way (meaning by accident). And that I think it inappropriate for me to meet them at all. I feel like things are already complicated and adding family to the mix would just compound upon it while putting bonds in place that don't need to be there.

I don't know if he agrees with me and I really don't care. Right now, I don't even want to be around him. It's all just too weird. Plus, I'm thinking that he's around too much anymore. I can't be sure of what's in store for us individually but I am sure that I don't want to re-visit having a relationship with him. Not right now.