I'm at work without much work to do today, but Nate wants us to stick around in case our client has big changes, so I figured now would be a good time to do the family-meeting-the-family wrap-up.
Saturday morning, I made coffee and toasted bagels. While everyone relaxed after breakfast, LB and I got the chairs and table I'd borrowed from Luke and Marni set up outside. Ben and company arrived shortly after 2:00, with pitchers and Tupperware containers full of all sorts of mysterious things.
"I told you not to bring anything!" I protested. "You all must have been cooking all night!"
"I wasn't!" Ben said with a smile. "K., this is my mom, my sister Lori, and these adorable doppelgangers are Nora and Lucy."
And Nora and Lucy were adorable. I could tell Nora was the tomboy of the 4-year-old twins – she was decked out in shorts, a t-shirt with a lightning bolt on it and red Converse sneakers. Lucy had on a frilly yellow sundress with matching Crocs, and her hair was in braids, tied up with matching ribbon.
When I met Ben senior, I was immediately struck by the similarities between him and my Ben – they're both insanely handsome, with the same blue eyes, build and face structure. Meanwhile, his mom and sister were both short and heavyset, with dirty-blond hair, brown eyes, and pale, freckled skin. Ben's mom seemed very shy and nervous, while his sister was outgoing, and by outgoing, I mean LOUD. When she wasn't yelling at the kids, she was telling exaggerated stories, or guffawing at someone else's jokes. They were not what I expected at all. To hear Ben talk about his mother, she's a temperamental shrew, and the picture he paints of his sister is of this poor, saintly girl who can't ever catch a break.
When it seemed like everyone was settling in and getting to know each other, I announced that I was going to start grilling.
"No you're not," LB said. "Play hostess. Ben and I are going to grill." He and Ben exchanged a look that let me know this plan has already been discussed and decided upon. I shrugged, poured myself a lemonade, and took my seat at the table as my father was slinking away to join the boys. I took Emma in my lap and joined the conversation, which had just turned toward the current political landscape.
When it comes to politics, it appears that Ben's family and my family don't exactly see eye-to-eye. I watched my mother grow more and more uncomfortable as Lori and Ben's mother's arguments got more heated. I started to see the side of Ben's mother that he'd warned me about. When my mother tried to change the subject, his mother leveled a rather aggressive verbal challenge at her. I excused myself and made my way over to the grill.
"We have a situation," I whispered.
"Oh god," Ben said, a panicked look on his face. "Are they talking about politics?" I nodded, and he made a beeline for the table.
"What's going on?" LB asked, and I shushed him and followed Ben.
"Mom, Lori, let's go get some platters and utensils for the food we brought," he said, ushering them inside. My mother looked vaguely traumatized, and Danielle looked like she'd just finished watching a particularly amusing episode of "Jersey Shore."
I think Ben gave his family a talking-to, because they didn't bring up any more controversial topics. It took awhile, but eventually everyone seemed relaxed, and like they were having a good time. When it came time to say goodbye, Ben's mother was back to her smiley, quiet self, and Lori were both gracious and warm, hugging and kissing everyone and saying how nice it was to meet us.
I'm heading over to Ben's in a few so we can compare notes and do a post-mortem. From what I could see, it could have been a lot worse. I'm just glad my family managed to behave themselves...
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