After going seeing my parents, sister and her family over the Easter weekend I dropped my family off at my sister-in-laws on my way home. I'd only planned to drop them off and not stopped but my hospitable sister-in-law invited me in for a coffee so I stopped briefly.
Last Saturday evening just after I'd finished dinner the phone rang and it was my son. He wanted to know if I was happy to meet up half way between our home and his Aunts when I picked him and his mum up. His Gran had suggested that she bring them half way as it would be neutral ground and she could meet Jenna. The only caveats that were put on things were that I didn't wear a skirt or dress.
I had no problem with not wearing a skirt or dress as I'd planned to wear jeans and a top.
Sunday morning arrived and it was a bright, sunny day. It was also a bit cold.
I took my time getting ready, showering and the rest of my preparations took a little while. Deciding on what foundation to wear was my biggest issue. With blue skies I wasn't sure whether my normal liquid foundation would survive if the weather became really hot so I decided to risk my new mineral foundation. It had survived an evening out the other day so I thought it might survive a day out, besides if it got really hot and it survived then it might just survive a trip to the gym.
With make-up sorted I turned to clothes. A new pair of jeans, bought with some of the money I received for my birthday, and my pink, Grizzly tee-shirt (the Grizzly is a 20 mile cross country race that takes place at Seaton in Devon early in the year which I took part in a couple of years ago. A pair of low heeled boots completed the outfit.
As it was cold I slipped on a cardigan with the intention of stopping off at Matalan to pick up a unisex jacket to wear instead.
With nearly two hours until I had to be at the meeting place I set off so I could make a couple of stops on the way. I managed to find a jacket at Matalan and then set off to meet up with everyone.
The journey was uneventful and I arrived at the Little Chef about a minute before the others. I was just about to swap the cardigan for the jacket when they arrived so I abandoned that idea and left it in the car. They'd all seen what I was wearing so there was no point in wearing the jacket.
We moved my family's luggage into our car and then made our way into the Little Chef to have some lunch.
We all sat there, we talked about various family matters and a bit about my job. I know that people weren't comfortable with it but my in-laws made an effort. Only time will tell how well they do adapt to it. A couple of times I was referred to by my old name, which is not surprising as its how my wife refers to me on the phone when talking with her family.
With lunch completed we made our way back to the car and said our goodbyes.
I've not heard anything about what my mother-in-law thought. I'm sure that I'll find out in due course. I did, however, discover that my sister-in-law said that seeing me wasn't as bad as she'd expected. I've no idea what it was she was expecting but whatever it was then it was either outrageous or badly applied make-up and horrible fashion sense.
So with sister-in-law, mother-in-law and wife's step-dad out of the way that just leaves my brother-in-law, who is still not ready to meet me, and my father-in-law, who has been seriously ill and we're visiting with me going back to a more masculine look (hair pulled back, male or androgynous clothes and a tinted moisturiser).
Brother-in-law will meet me when he's ready but I'm not going to compromise for him.
Father-in-law, well we'll see how things progress with his illness. At some point he might have to meet me as I am now because it wont be possible to hide any changes to my appearance. However, it may be that he never sees me as I am now, only time will tell.
I was expecting the experience of meeting mother-in-law to be a lot worse than it was. Its a relief to get that meeting over and done with. We'll see how things pan out there though when we're not on neutral ground with the youngsters around.
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