I feel like that is an important part in dating; seeing the person around their people. That's when you get to see who they really are.
I remember meeting Matt's best friend Ben and his wife Breann. We met them at Ikea and just walked around the store for a while. It wasn't anything spectacular, and I was intimidated by them so I'm sure I was pretty quiet. Not too long after that we all went to a movie. I remember Matt went to the bathroom and when he left Ben leaned over to me and said, "By the way, you're our favorite" While Breann nodded in agreement. He then said, "Matt has brought around some real riff raff" I was so happy that they liked me. It is so important to be liked by your man's people.
One thing I loved about dating Matt was, he always seemed so confident in where he stood with me. We never had any DTR (determine the relationship) or anything like that. We never had to sit down and discuss where this was headed. He just had the mind set of, "I want this to progress, so I'll progress and if she doesn't want to then I'll know"
I remember we went to Grimaldi's and there was a guy there that was an architect on the project Matt was working on. He took me over to him and said, "This is my girlfriend Julia". I remembered being so caught off guard but I loved that. I just thought, "Oh... ok so I'm his girlfriend now." and that was that.
November 16, Saturday:
Matt was doing a mountain bike race with his brother Craig. It was 12 hour relay so he'd be gone all day. He invited me to meet him there and hang out when he wasn't racing. I was excited but nervous because that meant meeting his brother.
Matt and I had both talked about what meeting the family means. Matt and I are both the youngest in our families. We both dated a lot and we were both "old" for being single in the LDS world. Introducing people to the family meant getting their hopes up, and eventually having to answer a lot of questions about why they aren't coming around anymore. I remember talking to my mom about a new guy once. At the end of the conversation she says, "What was his name again?" I said, "It really doesn't matter. By the next time I see you he likely won't be the one I'm talking about anymore"
I knew Matt looked up to Craig a lot so I was excited that he wanted me to meet him.
I had been rowing all day so I wasn't able to get to the trail until that night. When I got there, Matt was racing. I saw a guy that looked alarmingly like Matt and knew that had to be Craig, but being the introvert I am I just stood out of view for a while until I saw Matt cross the finish line. I walked up and Matt introduced us. That was his last ride in the relay so we got to spend the rest of the time just hanging out with Craig and the other racers. It was a lot of fun and I felt really comfortable around them. The only downside was, we were hanging out in a Winnebago with about 6 guys who'd been mountain biking all day. Stinky.
That night we went back to my apartment and Matt told me that Craig really liked me. He then said, "I'm excited for the rest of my family to meet you"
I knew Matt had dinner with his family on the third Sunday of every Month. That happened to be the next day. I said, "You have dinner with your family tomorrow right?" He said, "Yeah" I said, "Well... I'd like to go." He said, "You want to come to my family dinner?" I said, "Yeah I would." He said, "Ok"
Looking back, I don't remember being nervous at all. I knew he had a BIG family (being the youngest of 9) but I had a big family. I knew how my family was in these situations, and I felt like, I could handle what they threw at me.
I honestly don't remember the initial walk through the door or anything, but I do remember when everyone got their food I was sitting at the counter with a plate and all of the sudden I was surrounded by sisters (I think it was Alison, Heather, Cindy and Aubri and a few of the older neices) They were asking me about my life and my family. About my work and my hobbies. About how Matt and I met and how long we'd been dating. They were so interested in me. They kept asking me if I was overwhelmed or if this was too much to take in, but I just told them it wasn't. It felt just like my family dinners at home. I could see it in their eyes. The hope. The "is this the one?" I wondered the same things.
We had to leave early because I was singing in a fireside that night. I remember when we left his mom gave him a hug and I could see she whispered something in his ear. If I'm not mistaken she was telling him, "I really like her"
I was glad I met his family then because Thanksgiving was soon after and I got to spend that with them as well. Being my first Thanksgiving in Arizona and away from my family, I was really glad to be able to spend it with his family.
This was taken the day after Thanksgiving.
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