Well, I did it. I survived a weekend with James’s extended family. We went down for James’s sister’s graduation.

On Thursday we scooted out of work at 3 and started the long drive down to Virginia. I swear, as much as I enjoy our roadtrips, nothing ever goes as planned. We hit so much traffic due to construction. And when we got to D.C. (I was driving; James was sleeping; it was about 1 a.m., I think), the on ramp to 95, which we needed to get on, was completely closed down due to an accident.

I woke James up and told him I couldn’t get on 95, I was going to have to go 495. He mumbled something about how only crazy people drive through D.C. and we wanted 495 anyway. He assured me it would run into 95 again.

Well, it did. In Maryland. I drove us in a big circle, wasting about an hour. I was so frustrated, I cried and yelled at the road signs. I woke James up and he assured me it was no big deal. One of the things I love most about him is his ability to be calm when I’m losing it.

So we got to Chesapeake and James’s mom’s house around 5 a.m. Stumbled into James’s sister’s room and passed out for a few hours.

When we woke, there was an adorable toddler running through the hallways. He burst in on me in the bathroom (he loves to open and close doors), but I couldn’t even be angry, he was so cute.

Carolina’s graduation wasn’t until 3, so we spent the morning hanging out with James’s brother, sister-in-law and nephew. Around 1 or 1:30, James’s grandmother, uncle and aunt showed up, along with Carolina’s boyfriend and his mother. We piled into cars to caravan to the convocation center in Norfolk.

This place was huge. Virginia high schools are much bigger than Connecticut high schools.

Applause, pictures, diplomas, caps and gowns, the usual graduation stuff. We climbed back into the cars and battled the traffic back to James’s mother’s house, then all ordered Chinese. Man, I miss living in an area where people will deliver food to you.

The next day those of us staying at James’s mom’s house headed to Virginia Beach for a day by the ocean while those staying in a hotel spent the day at Jamestown. I would have liked to go to Jamestown, and hope to get there eventually, but it was such a nice day, I couldn’t resist the beach.

James’s brother and his family left that night and James and I snuck out for a dinner alone. On Sunday we stopped at the hotel to say goodbye to Grandma, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Daniel before heading back north. After many hours of sitting in traffic, we made it home.

It was a stressful weekend, with all the family and all the traveling, but James and I didn’t fight once. He got frustrated with his family, but I never did. I just went along for the ride. They weren’t my family, so I wasn’t so invested in the drama. I was able to step back and enjoy the good parts without having to stress over the bad ones.

I wonder if that will be the case in a few years, when they get used to me and let down their guard.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 8:06 pm and is filed under family, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.