Team Thella

I'll never forget the first time I met my husband's family. I had never been more nervous for anything. Joel was my first serious boyfriend and I had never had to go through the "let's meet each others parents" part of a relationship. Now in a normal, "meet the parents" occasion it's awkward, you get through it, then you laugh at yourself, and get close to your new family. From what I hear, it's also a pretty quick part of the relationship. Typically, you even come from similar cultures. Like I've said before, its all different in a intercultural relationship. The "meet the parents" occasion isn't just a night, it can go on for years. I am constantly getting to know more about Joel's family, they are constantly teaching me new things, and I am always messing up with different cultural traditions. One part that's over is the initiation. Oh yes, they definitely initiate you in. Initiation can be done on your own by following your "white ways" like I did or you get teased mercilessly by your new family who love to watch you squirm. It's definitely gotten us closer as we laugh at it all. As my initiation is fading, a new initiation has begun and now... I get to be on the other side!Joel and I took the boys to see his family for Easter. We don't get to get all the family together often and we were able to get most of them this year. We had a special surprise this year. Krystal, Joel's sister, brought Will, her boyfriend. Liam approved right away! Joel's family had fun welcoming him in. Joel's grandparents, from India even joined in on the fun. Umama, Joel's grandma, told Will a story of a group of people in India. Apparently, when a man wants to marry a woman, he must go through a trial to see if he is worthy enough. He has to sit in the middle of his people, while someone hits him over and over with a thin piece of bamboo. If he flinches, makes the smallest face, or a sound he can't marry her. After Will hears the story, Joel asks," Hey Will, guess what tribe we're from." Man, us whitey's sure have it easy. Starting a relationship can be as easy as a text message or as formal as a phone call. When Krystal was telling me about Will, she told me he thought we'd be friends because we both want to be Indian. So true! He's even starting to try his hand at cooking Indian food! That gets him ten points in my book. While we were driving home from one of many Indian church events, he had a "brilliant" idea. "Couldn't you just mix all the Indian spices together and use that while you're cooking?" We all erupted into laughter and Joel said, "Sorry Will, there's no such thing as an Indian casserole!" Nice try Will. Let's just say after a week of initiation... Will is becoming more Indian!