When you meet a guy or a girl and the two of you hit it off, it's a little early to be thinking about whether or not you'll hit it off with the family as well. And why would you? It's still a budding romance, filled with surprises and candlelit dinners and lots and lots of sex. However, fast forward a year and you suddenly find yourself miserable, not because of anything your significant other has done, but because you now have sufficient evidence that proves his family is insane. You've heard it, you've seen it, you've even dealt with it on multiple occasions. The mom, whose temper resembles that of Hitler circa 1945, the dad, whose misleading modesty unexpectedly turns into ruthless obscenity, and the brother, who's at the ripe adolescent age of running away and succeeding in making every situation unbearably awkward.
For the past few days, I've been living in the center of all this, waiting for my credit report to be approved so I can move into my apartment. I constantly find myself tiptoeing around the house so as not to disturb the sleeping beast (mom), or biting my lip so as to avoid any and all forms of face-to-face confrontation. It's not that his family has a problem with me. Quite the contrary actually, they adore me, cater to my every whim, sometimes treat me better than they do their own son. However, the fact that I'm slowly seeing their "idiosyncrasies" chipping away at my boyfriend's 'keep-it-together factor' is, shall we say, disconcerting to say the least.
But what's more concerning than the classic product of your environment issue lie a few underlying inquiries: Can I see myself marrying this man? If no, what am I still doing here? If yes, can I also see myself "marrying his family?"...When someone marries another person, do they marry that person's family as well?
