Family Reunion

Originally posted on August 10th, 2016

I went to a family brunch with my parents last Sunday. This is exceptional because we don't usually participate in family gatherings, or any other kind of gathering for that matter. We're basically three loners living together, though my father is a little more outgoing than my mother and me. We were invited by one of my dad's brothers, an uncle we see relatively often compared to the rest of the family.

When I woke up Sunday morning I was already feeling stressed about the upcoming event, and it didn't help that I had trouble sleeping all night. But I was curious to meet some family members I hadn't seen for ages, and seeing how my uncle and his boyfriend had told us they would prepare a vegetarian plate specially for me, both me and my mom were in agreement that it would be rude not to show up.

And I'm glad I did show up; I had quite a good time. It wasn't a huge gathering; there was about a dozen people, and they were all pretty friendly. As I hadn't seen most of those aunts and uncles for decades, I had trouble remembering them from when I was a small child, but they still made me feel somewhat comfortable, despite them being almost complete strangers at this point. Having my parents around brought extra comfort; they added a layer of familiarity to the experience, and with them at my side I didn't feel the pressure to constantly participate in conversations. It was nice to be able to zone out whenever I felt I needed to. On two occasions I even got up to take a walk and explore the neighborhood by myself for a while; in a different situation I might have worried about looking weird and antisocial for doing so, and forced myself to stay at the table, but in this case I felt free to, well, be myself.

Speaking of which, this experience made me realize a few things about my needs in social situations, and about how I process social events. First, even when spending time among people I need my personal space, and the option to be alone when necessary. This is completely independent of the quality of the company I'm with. Second, I have trouble sitting still for long periods of time. I'll be aching to get up and move sooner or later. Actually, I already knew that, as I sometimes find it hard to even sit through an entire movie, but I've now found out my tendency toward restlessness also emerges during social gatherings.

Still, Sunday was a good day. Oh, and the vegetarian meal was great. I ate couscous for the first time in my life, and the rest of the plate was filled with vegetables. I'm so grateful they took the time to make something for me, that was so nice of them.