Getting married: Meeting the family

Not that he hasn't met my family before, but the first meeting was a whirlwind event in the Bavarian countryside in the summer of 2010. So technically they've met him, but actually they met a person I know and probably weren't able to form any real opinion about him. Since I've moved to Italy they've had a number of conversations with him on Skype. Not as good as in person but definitely a different experience than talking on the phone.

So here we are, almost two years later, and they finally got to spend some time getting to know Leif. We didn't do as much sightseeing as we could, and we didn't see as much of our friends as we would have liked, but we spent as much time as possible with my family during the three weeks that he was here in Minnesota. I guess my thought was if they can't understand what it is I'm doing living on another continent, they can at least be comfortable with my choice of companions. They should know now that he's not an ax murderer or a weirdo, but that he's an intelligent and compassionate person who cares about me. That should be enough for anyone.

We managed to get the whole family together a couple of times to eat and laugh. It was really a blessing that he understands English. I know what it's like to be surrounded by a group of people that you know you will be spending several weeks with and not be able to understand a word that's being said. It's a strain on both people when one person is relying on the other to translate what's being said all the time. It would have been impossible for me to translate everything for him, as my family tends to have about five different conversations going at the same time, and everyone manages to participate in more than one at a time.

Professionals at work. Who doesn't 
open their wine with a pliers and an assistant?

The highlight of our family nights has to be the night we decided to bring a few bottles of my dad's home made wine up from the cellar. My dad used to make wine back in the 60's and 70's. It was quite the experience. We tried four different wines. One bottle had lost its label so we had to guess at what kind it might have been. One was actually made by another person. It was originally a sparking wine, but by the time we opened it the wine was really just sweeter and obviously less bubbly. We had rhubarb wine and beet wine and I think something with apples and finally the mystery bottle that we believe may be dandelion wine. Quite a variety for a central Minnesota cellar.

We had a great time talking smart about wine that was well past its prime, if it ever actually had a prine moment. We used pretty glasses and fancy words and in the end decided that none of the wines would be our first choice in any civilised setting, but they were fun to play with.

Yup, a good time was had by all.

I hope when he left for Italy my family felt they knew enough about him to trust him with me. I hope he left with a better understanding of me. And hey, he still wants me to come home so things went well, right?