On Strange Foreign Lands

Last week, without ever leaving the state of my birth, I traveled to a strange and foreign land. The customs, the culture, even the conversation was alien to me and it took me a few days to get used to it. It was a strange land of white walls, mirrors, christmas decorations and giant fake ferns. I'll admit I may have stumbled a bit with the native population at first.

For example, I dare anyone to come up with, on the spot, the correct way to respond to a reference to the cat-eating Husky in residence as "my angel baby from heaven". I certainly didn't and settled for a stunned silence instead.

Yes, I was at my boyfriend's mother's house.

Over the past two decades I have become accustomed to a certain set of faults and idiosyncrasies belonging to my own family. Thus it is always a bit off putting when meeting other people's family who invariably have a different set of faults and idiosyncrasies that I am unused to. Suddenly, I am at a loss. And being at a loss around the mother of the man you love is not a great vantage point. I personally prefer having the upper hand.

Tech Support's mother is a fascinating woman to me. Here I am, neurotically worried about the environment, driving a fuel efficient car as little as I can, buying local, trying not to waste money, trying urban composting and gardening, and recycling as much as I can. In comparison Tech Support's mother drives a massive SUV so she can feel safe, spends obscene amounts of money on buying all sorts of materialistic items, and probably doesn't know much about sustainable living. On the other hand, she is working on getting leaky old pipes that pollute the water in her area replaced, destroying old businesses and turning them back into marshland, and personally helping several disabled people in her area live better lives.

Despite our different approaches to environmentalism we got along just fine and passed a pleasant several days together.

Though now I am glad to be home with my little angel babies from heaven.