Loud and Demanding; but I think she passed

Well to say the least this year has been busy. It seems there is a never ending string of events keeping me on the move. And therefore keeping RG (was RB) moving with me a lot of the time. She does a really good job of putting up with this I think. Really I am only home 3 or maybe 4 nights a week, so half-time really, but she puts up with it. In fact she really is helpful keeping me going; running errands during the week (dry cleaning, mail, shopping, etc), making sure I have my favorite iced tea made when I get home, keeping the house inviting, talking to me every night, and more.

So when I am home on the weekends I don’t mind if she gets to be a bit loud and demanding. Any one who has met RG knows that she is not shy, nor is she shy about asking for what she wants. It really doesn’t matter what company is around either. What you see is what you get. Well for the most part. While she may seem demanding to most people, they don’t see the other side. She is always fast to compromise, fast to help, and when I do make her mad (this is a pretty regular occurrence with anyone that has to live with me) she cools off and forgets about it faster than anyone I know. So it is nice that over the last month I think she has passed through her trial of fire with my family.

Being the nice and understanding husband I am, I dragged my poor wife to not one but two family reunions in the last month. So she was subjected to meeting both my mom’s side of the family in the hills of Virginia, and my Dad’s side of the Family on the west coast. As with all families I have my share of unique individuals hanging from my family tree. In fact it is about all I have. My family is a lot of fun, and while they are all characters, they also all have character and are genuine and accepting people. So she was able to meet all 6 of my uncles (both sides), all 8 of my aunts (again both sides), and 5 cousins, but she had already met my mom’s mom. My family comes from across the country living in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Texas, Virginia, and of course Minnesota, though I also have extended family in the Carolinas and New York as well. So any way we are all spread out.

The first trip was down to the farm in VA for my Mom’s family’s reunion. This wasn’t a big one that would include most of the county but just the immediate family. I flew in Thursday night, and she flew in late Friday night. My uncle came with us because his wife was flying in at the same time. So RG got to meet them right off the bat. Over the weekend we all hung out, had a few drinks, worked on the farm a little (though my uncles did most of the work) and generally relaxed. One very amusing event I think I need to send photos of to Jeff Foxworthy involved my uncle duct taping several poles together to paint the edge of the roof with a roller. You might be a redneck if…. RG got to hear horror stories from my uncles and aunts about me from my youth, which really I think we exaggerated, I was not that terrible! And at time was subjected to the typical family harassment from my uncles. Though really I think they went a little light on her. For her part she wasn’t as loud as she normally is but just as frank and demanding as usual. Really a good thing in that house because if you don’t make an effort to get what you want you can be steam rolled. When it was all said and done though everyone must have liked her because they all made a point of telling me I did well. If they didn’t like her they would have simply and politely said farewell.

Two weeks later she was in for it again. Again I flew in Thursday after work and again she flew in late Friday night. This time we had arranged it so she could fly on the same flight as my brother. As I understand it she tried to get him to lead a mutiny on the plane; good thing he was smart enough not to take on that task. This time the reunion was my dad’s immediate family at my parent’s new house in Renton, WA a suburb of Seattle, WA. All of his brother’s and their wives showed, along with my brother, and two cousins. This trip, as are all with my dad, more hectic in that we did a lot of sight seeing and less hanging out and drinking. Plus he didn’t put us to work on the house. I don’t think there was as much picking on RG as at my mom’s reunion but people did ask her a lot of questions. She did drink plenty of my uncle’s wine so I am sure that is a bonus. As usual she was her self, a little loud, a bit demanding, but plenty of fun. Again by the end of the weekend all of my uncles told me I did well. So it looks like she passed through her family trial by fire pretty unscathed.

I do have to make a quick statement though. All my uncles told me I did well. But really I think I just got lucky. The only doing well I can really do is to try to make her happy and want to stick around. The rest of it is her poor judgment in liking me (I kid I kid) and the universe for bringing her around in the first place. But I will take the compliment anyway, even though it really is for RG.