meet the parents It's been a whirlwind holiday season, culminating last week with the legendary Meeting of The Parents. In short, Joe's parents came to visit us from Ohio and met my parents for the first time. I think it went OK, despite the culture gap. And despite what that may sound like, I'm not talking about the fact that my parents are Chinese and that Joe's parents are Italian, I'm talking about the culture gap between the farm-grown Ohioans and the staunchly concrete-lovin' city folk. I think between the stories about Joe's grandmother chasing around escaped pigs with a broom, Joe's father artificially inseminating a cow with bargain basement $10 bull sperm he bought from the vet, and the ritualistic Waking of the Children Ritual wherein a butter churn stick is beaten on their doors, my parents were stunned (and charmed) into submission. I like Joe's parents a lot. They're warm, down to earth, extremely generous people. In some ways, I feel like they're the archetypical American Parents, both in looks, behavior, and ideals. Like they should be on some TV show about America or something, eating corn dogs and waving a flag from the window of their sensible, mid-sized family vehicle. My only worry is that I wouldn't live up to their expectations--specifically, that I wouldn't be daughter-in-lawly enough for his mom. As has been discussed before, I'm not a very girly-girl when it comes to planning this wedding. Sure, I enjoy aspects of planning it, but it's not like I'm leading the parade with the lace and tulle or anything. Joe and I are doing most of the wedding planning on our own, with minimal parental involvement (as per my parent's wishes, citing "Chinese custom"--unsubstantiated if this is actually customary of if my parents just want to avoid the headache of details), but I think this has left Joe's mom aching for details. The whole time we were together, she was asking me for info, going over a bridal mag that she bought at the newsstand for our perusal, and helping us to flesh out the minutiae of wedding planning that we didn't even know we had to think about. I'm afraid that my end of the conversation wasn't quite gushing enough. I'm afraid she's going to think I'm a bad planner. JOE'S MOM And have you thought about how you're going to get down to the ceremony site? MICHELLE Um, on the day of the thing? JOE'S MOM The wedding. MICHELLE Uh...I don't know. Drive? JOE'S MOM But are you going to dress first and go down with all your bridal attendants, or meet everyone there and then get dressed? And are you going to take photos before in your gown at Central Park? MICHELLE We haven't really worked out all the details yet. JOE'S MOM And have you thought about what gifts you're going to give your bridesmaids? MICHELLE Gifts? Oh yeah, we have to do that. I don't know, maybe we'll get them something they could wear with their dresses on the day of the thing. JOE'S MOM I can think of some lovely ideas. MICHELLE (Trying to get out of the hot seat) Yeah, Joe, what gifts are you going to give your groomsmen? JOE (Feigning sleep) JOE'S MOM (Flipping through the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine) Oh, look at this. Hydrangeas. Aren't these lovely on the cake? MICHELLE Yeah, wow, that looks nice. I like the green and white. Right Joe? JOE (Fake snoring) MICHELLE Yeah, maybe we'll show that picture to our new, non-deadbeat florist. We can slap those flowers on the cake real easy. JOE'S MOM With the gorgeous ribbon and beading! And the monogram, isn't that spectacular? MICHELLE's INNER MONOLOGUE Monogram? What, in case someone tries to steal our cake and pass it off as their own? And so on. Cooper is doing well. She's getting huge, as puppies do, growing up into an adult dog and whatnot. She's still adorable and puppyish, of course, and she could probably use an obedience class or two when she gets her final round of shots, but we love her to death. Joe built her a little doggie door the other day, so that she can go out on the terrace to do her dirty sinful business (tm Reverend Lovejoy) and come back in as she pleases, and she seems to have gotten the hang of it. This makes us much more confident about going back to work in January and leaving her alone in the house during the day. Speaking of which, I'm back to work January 6th. You know, it's funny, because the first week of my month off, I was bored out of my mind. I had nothing to do. I just could not figure out how to fill my day. And now, at the end of my vacation month, I've gotten used to it. It's kinda nice, having my whole day free, to be able to do whatever I want whenever I want. Whereas I was actually missing work the first week or so, now, the thought of going back to the hospital exhausts me. Well, luckily, the rest of this year is a joke anyway. Senior slump, med school style. xo Michelle |
Saturday . December 28 . 2002 . 9:14am |
meet the parents It's been a whirlwind holiday season, culminating last week with the legendary Meeting of The Parents. In short, Joe's parents came to visit us from Ohio and met my parents for the first time. I think it went OK, despite the culture gap. And despite what that may sound like, I'm not talking about the fact that my parents are Chinese and that Joe's parents are Italian, I'm talking about the culture gap between the farm-grown Ohioans and the staunchly concrete-lovin' city folk. I think between the stories about Joe's grandmother chasing around escaped pigs with a broom, Joe's father artificially inseminating a cow with bargain basement $10 bull sperm he bought from the vet, and the ritualistic Waking of the Children Ritual wherein a butter churn stick is beaten on their doors, my parents were stunned (and charmed) into submission. I like Joe's parents a lot. They're warm, down to earth, extremely generous people. In some ways, I feel like they're the archetypical American Parents, both in looks, behavior, and ideals. Like they should be on some TV show about America or something, eating corn dogs and waving a flag from the window of their sensible, mid-sized family vehicle. My only worry is that I wouldn't live up to their expectations--specifically, that I wouldn't be daughter-in-lawly enough for his mom. As has been discussed before, I'm not a very girly-girl when it comes to planning this wedding. Sure, I enjoy aspects of planning it, but it's not like I'm leading the parade with the lace and tulle or anything. Joe and I are doing most of the wedding planning on our own, with minimal parental involvement (as per my parent's wishes, citing "Chinese custom"--unsubstantiated if this is actually customary of if my parents just want to avoid the headache of details), but I think this has left Joe's mom aching for details. The whole time we were together, she was asking me for info, going over a bridal mag that she bought at the newsstand for our perusal, and helping us to flesh out the minutiae of wedding planning that we didn't even know we had to think about. I'm afraid that my end of the conversation wasn't quite gushing enough. I'm afraid she's going to think I'm a bad planner. JOE'S MOM And have you thought about how you're going to get down to the ceremony site? MICHELLE Um, on the day of the thing? JOE'S MOM The wedding. MICHELLE Uh...I don't know. Drive? JOE'S MOM But are you going to dress first and go down with all your bridal attendants, or meet everyone there and then get dressed? And are you going to take photos before in your gown at Central Park? MICHELLE We haven't really worked out all the details yet. JOE'S MOM And have you thought about what gifts you're going to give your bridesmaids? MICHELLE Gifts? Oh yeah, we have to do that. I don't know, maybe we'll get them something they could wear with their dresses on the day of the thing. JOE'S MOM I can think of some lovely ideas. MICHELLE (Trying to get out of the hot seat) Yeah, Joe, what gifts are you going to give your groomsmen? JOE (Feigning sleep) JOE'S MOM (Flipping through the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine) Oh, look at this. Hydrangeas. Aren't these lovely on the cake? MICHELLE Yeah, wow, that looks nice. I like the green and white. Right Joe? JOE (Fake snoring) MICHELLE Yeah, maybe we'll show that picture to our new, non-deadbeat florist. We can slap those flowers on the cake real easy. JOE'S MOM With the gorgeous ribbon and beading! And the monogram, isn't that spectacular? MICHELLE's INNER MONOLOGUE Monogram? What, in case someone tries to steal our cake and pass it off as their own? And so on. Cooper is doing well. She's getting huge, as puppies do, growing up into an adult dog and whatnot. She's still adorable and puppyish, of course, and she could probably use an obedience class or two when she gets her final round of shots, but we love her to death. Joe built her a little doggie door the other day, so that she can go out on the terrace to do her dirty sinful business (tm Reverend Lovejoy) and come back in as she pleases, and she seems to have gotten the hang of it. This makes us much more confident about going back to work in January and leaving her alone in the house during the day. Speaking of which, I'm back to work January 6th. You know, it's funny, because the first week of my month off, I was bored out of my mind. I had nothing to do. I just could not figure out how to fill my day. And now, at the end of my vacation month, I've gotten used to it. It's kinda nice, having my whole day free, to be able to do whatever I want whenever I want. Whereas I was actually missing work the first week or so, now, the thought of going back to the hospital exhausts me. Well, luckily, the rest of this year is a joke anyway. Senior slump, med school style. xo Michelle |
