Meet the Parents

How many of you out there have done the Meet the Parents bit? It's very unnerving, isn't it? The only consolation I can think of is that you usually do this together. But guess what? I had to meet Dear Hubby's parents for the first time alone!!!

He'd flown back for a meeting in London and the initial plan was to fly me into London once his meeting was done and we would drive up to Liverpool together to meet his family. He'd promised me a trip to Anfield as well and would I like it? Would I ever!!! Wow!!! A trip to holy land! Yes please, pretty please!
But then he called and said Guess what? Bad news. No more flights to London. Would it be okay if I flew in by myself to Manchester a day before his meetings ended and he would get his parents to pick me up in Mancland and drive back to Liverpool and "...I promise I'll come up to Liverpool as early as I can, okay baby?"

WHAT??? Meet your parents for the first time??? ALONE??? ON THEIR TURF???

What could I do but agree? There weren't any other flights. So one fine April day, I found myself on a flight bound for Manchester, nervously wondering what to say to his parents. I rehearsed entire conversations in my head ("How do you do?" "How do you do?" "Would you like some marmalade with your toast?" "Yes please, that would be just lovely, thank you"). See, I would have known what to expect if they were Chinese parents. I would have known they would quiz me about my job, my background, my education, my family and I would praise their lovely koi fish pond and I would have known that gifts of ginseng and bird's nest soup would be much appreciated. But what do you do with English parents???

Turned out I'd worried unnecessarily. I landed, got through Immigration and walked out into arrival hall, wondering what they looked like. Dear Hubby had not even provided me with their pictures! God. *smacks forehead*
But my future in-laws were a lot smarter than I was. They had no problem spotting me, I was one of the few Asians on the flight and I was the only who'd appeared in arrival hall and started scanning the crowd. And thanks to their ingenuity, I had no problem realising the tall man was Dear Hubby's bro and the cheerful, lovely lady next to him was Dear Hubby's mum - they were holding up a sign with my name, the words LIVERPOOL FC and our football club crest printed on it. They told me later they'd thought it up since they didn't know what I looked like either and knew that an LFC crest would surely catch my eye since Dear Hubby had told them I was a mad Red.

It turned out they were lovely people and unlike Asian parents, didn't grill me like an ikan bakar. From the very first day, they welcomed me into their home and their family and I just fell in love with all of them. We've been back a few times since to see them and I've enjoyed every single time.

Phew. It turned out to be a happily ever after episode after all.