Independence Day

Yesterday, July 4th, I declared my independence from any form of scruple that would have prevented my imposing on the family function of strangers. I spent the bulk of my day as the foreigner at L's extended family barbecue/pool party.

At my ward's morning flag raising/pancake breakfast L learned that I had no plans for the rest of the day. She invited me to tag along with her family the rest of the day, assuring me that it would not be weird at all, and that her family is a "the more the merrier" type of crowd. I quickly ran through a cost/benefit analysis and decided to accept the invite. I figured that the benefit of not spending a national holiday on my own, and meeting new people and maybe having a really good time outweighed the cost of a possibly awkward afternoon.

Well, I did end up meeting new people and having a really good time. But that did nothing to alleviate the awkward situation that ensued. That's right loyal IC readers, TT was there. L neglected to mention him at all whilst extending the invite, so I figured it was the other side of her family, or maybe even her husband's family that we would be visiting. Imagine my surprise when I realized that not only would my second meeting with TT be an extended family audition, but also that it would take place in a bathing suit.

After catching sight of TT, and realizing my mistake, I decided to make the most of it. Once the initial shock wore off, I ended up having a nice time. TT and I chatted a bit, but nothing heavy. He didn't go out of his way to hang around me, but also didn't go out of his way to avoid me. I learned that my initial instincts were correct, that he is quite the dish. A nice, tall, interesting dish. But also a dish that did nothing to further our friendship. We didn't exchange phone numbers or emails. I stalkerishly tried looking him up on facebook to no avail. Hmph.

A few noteworthy items that occurred throughout the day:

• TT's father gave me dating advise
• TT's brother-in-law invited me to watch an Ultimate Fighting pay-per-view game with them the next night. When I declined, stating that it's not really my thing, he said that he didn't think that TT likes it either. TT was not in the room, so why was he mentioned at all?
• TT's mother asked me to sit by her at the fireworks and then hugged me at the end of the night and said "We'll see you next year."

Not to be a total girl and over-analyze the situation, but doesn't it seem like the extended family is trying to thrust us together? Perhaps this is because I am totally awesome (understandable). Perhaps it is because TT is about to enter the Desperation Zone (T minus 14 months until getting kicked out of the YSA ward, and no girlfriend in sight) and his family is just grasping at straws at this point. Or perhaps I am reading too much into these things, and they were just being nice. Either which way, now that I've met the family I would be surprised if anything happens with TT. I think it might present too much pressure/expectation for us to go out on a date. I wouldn't want him to have to give the whole "It's just a date - we're not getting married, sheesh!" speech. No guy wants that. Anyway, we'll have to see if he's bold enough to do anything about it when I celebrate my personal Independence Day in 85 days (not that I'm counting).