Ty and I met at college, the campus for which was about an hour and a half's drive from his parents' house. One night, maybe a week or so before Halloween, while we were just driving around our little college town, talking about our families, Ty said: "You know what, I want you to meet my parents." I nodded, "Sure, I'd like that." Of course, I was thinking he meant in a couple of weeks or something like that. So imagine my surprise when he headed for the highway and drove us the hour and a half to his parents' house!
Now, I may have said this before, but just for the sake of clarity I'll say it again: I am VERY nervous when it comes to meeting new people. I am the awkward girl standing alone in the corner at parties--too overwhelmed by the crowd to even try and socialize. In smaller groups, until I am more comfortable with the people that I'm with, I will be VERY quiet and appear to be VERY aloof.
Now THESE people were my boyfriend's parents! I was well aware that neither one of them wanted their son/stepson to even think about seriously dating anyone until he'd graduated from college, and then along came Candice. (Hey! I can't help it if I'm irresistible...) This knowledge of their pre-disapproval was hardly encouraging for me.
Anyway, here we were, making a surprise appearance at their doorstep, and I was kind of a nervous wreck. I did my best to hide it, of course, since I knew I'd have to meet Mickey and Allie at some point anyway. So I just gritted my teeth, gripped Ty's hand, and walked in the door.
Mickey and Allie were sitting on their couch, watching television. Mickey had an open beer and a small glass that was filled with vodka (as I found out later). As soon as I walked in, I could see that Mickey was...well...drunk. I also noticed that he was rather intimidating, at least at first glance. Allie was pretty quiet, but she did greet me in a cordial--if somewhat inhibited--manner. Mickey greeted me briefly, then started talking to Ty.
The conversation centered around a recent fender bender that Ty had gotten into a week or so previously. He'd since had the bumper replaced, and his dad wanted to make sure that the repair shop had done a good enough job. He interrogated his son about the people who had done the job, and about the quality of the work, and then in mid-sentence, he stood up and headed for the door. He wanted to see the new bumper for himself.
Ty and I followed him outside, and as he talked, Mickey kept shooting glances in my direction. Surprisingly--to me, anyway--he wasn't hostile at all. He just kept talking to Ty about how the bumper work should have been done, and then he started to inspect the car. He pressed down on it, making sure it was sturdy, and then Mickey turned and talked directly to me: "Hey, kick that bumper."
I stood there, stunned for a moment. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. But he insisted: "Go on, go on." So I kicked the bumper. Mickey shook his head, "No, you can do better than that. I mean really kick it, as hard as you can." I glanced at Ty, who seemed to be suppressing laughter. He nodded at me, and I kicked the crap out of the bumper (which, I might add, retained my shoe print until the end of its days.)
Apparently satisfied, Mickey said: "Okay son, I want you to drive the car now, so I can see how it runs." He led the way to the end of the driveway, and Ty walked next to him. Not wanting to interfere (and being my usual timid self), I hung back and let them talk. Suddenly, Mickey turned to me and beckoned: "Catch up, catch up!" And then, turning to Ty, he said: "You need to feed her more iron."
I caught up to them, just as Mickey was gesturing broadly, "I want you to drive to that stop sign over there, to that stop sign over there, and then come back."
As he was gesturing, Ty noticed some search lights shining across the sky somewhere in town. He pointed at them and said: "Dad, what are those searchlights for? Is that a haunted house?"
Waving his hand dismissively, Mickey said: "Nah, that's Halloween shit." And then kept right on instructing Ty on how he wanted him to drive the car.
By the time Ty had finished driving around to Mickey's satisfaction, it was getting late. So we went back inside and had a brief conversation with both Mickey and Allie. It was fine, still a little awkward, but overall I now had a pretty good idea of what Ty's parents were like. I won't lie--I found myself liking Mickey.
Now, thirteen years and two kids later, Mickey and Allie are much more familiar to me. They are good, generous people, and the chiddlers love to visit them. Even better, they both grew to like me very quickly.
I remember one night when we had been visiting their house, Mickey walked out to the car with us. As Ty was buckling CT (then less than a year old) into his car seat, Mickey leaned in and said: "I am very glad that you're married to my son. I think you're the best thing that's ever happened to him." Needless to say, I started tearing up, and barely choked out a "Thank you." Mickey isn't normally a very emotional or expressive person, but when he is the things he says are very genuine and sincere. And I really appreciated it.
And just think, it all started with kicking bumpers and "Halloween shit." :)
Oh, here's an added bonus: Pictures of Ty and me in our Halloween costumes for this year! (Interesting fact: I wore my costume to my classes yesterday, and NO ONE noticed that it was a costume! I got a TON of compliments on my hair, my leggings, etc. One girl just looked at me and said: "I just can't believe how good you look today! You look so great!" Apparently, when a conservative 31-year-old mother of two shows up to class one day dressed up like a punk rocker, it means that she's suddenly decided to be fashionable. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with it being Halloween...)
Oh! And Happy November 1st, Everybody! :)
