Engaged in Family Drama

This past weekend, Nikki and Barbara hosted an early Thanksgiving dinner, a rip-roaring potluck. I had intended to spend the afternoon leading up to the meal peeling potatoes* and preparing the best homemade mashed potatoes you've ever tasted, but then time got away from me. (I spent the better portion of the day watching old Match Game clips on YouTube, which apparently has become my favorite past time as of late.) Instead, I high-tailed it to the 99 Cent store and bought a box of instant mashed potatoes. After bringing it home, in about ten minutes time, I had a heaping pan of creamy potatoes ready to go.

From the get-go, Nikki and I planned to make it a real family dinner by engaging in some sort of inappropriate family fight. Unfortunately, our politic ideologies match up too well to let that be the topic of discussion. I had a back up plan, though: Nikki's sister was visiting for the weekend. Though she's only nineteen, she's already engaged to be married after just a few months of dating someone. Primed to rip into her, Nikki was afraid this would cause too much legitimate family drama, so I held off.

Shortly after arriving at the feast, Nikki's sister spilled a drink on me. I was very good about it, even acting gracious for her having done so. Plus, I didn't bring up the engagement. Way to go, Kevin, I thought.

When it came time to leave, the night having been called earlier than most parties due to exhaustion after excessive tryptophan and alcohol, Nikki's sister said goodbye and apologized again for spilling the drink, saying, "I can't believe I spilled a drink on you after knowing you for just ten minutes!" "Ten minutes?" I retort. "I'm surprised we weren't engaged after that amount of time!"

And then there's awkwardness. Oops. How did I let that one just slip out? I was doing so well, and now she's clearly irritated. "Pretend I didn't say that," I try. Pause. "Oh whatever. I'm not going to remember this tomorrow," she responds, laughing it off.

Here I thought I wanted family drama, but when I got that close, I was aborting faster than a coat hanger.

*that's my first blog post ever