Weathered the first night with the IL's. I can't really figure out what they know - H and his family are superb actors when it comes to avoiding anything unpleasant. But then again they are also getting a little foggy about things at their age. They didn't seem to remember that they were here just last Thanksgiving.

I did ask H if they knew about us, actually called him from inside the White House while waiting for our meeting. He said that he has talked to his father a little, but that's all. When I said I wanted to know before I saw them if I was going to look like a fool, H made a strange comment like, "Don't worry, we're doing alright." This seems to be a pretty typical occurrence - H makes a comment and I can't quite figure out what he's saying. I usually don't ask because I'm trying to not look like I'm analyzing everything.

Anyway, White House was cool. Of course security is a lot tighter than it used to be. While we were in East Room waiting for our contact, President Bush landed outside window in Marine One helicopter so we had great view. It's a little ironic given all our difficult customers among the rich and aimless, it's always a pleasure to work with the people at the Capitol and White House. The civil servant employees at those two places are always incredibly pleasant and helpful, when you might think they would be the most demanding and difficult. In fact, it's usually the appointment types who come to work for the term who are the most difficult, and sorry if anyone is offended, but in my experience the democrats are generally more arrogant than the republicans (it's a DC phenomenon). Sorry, getting off track.

My H DID buy me roses for our anniversary. I was so pleased although I'll never know if he did it for me or because his parents were there. Also H is not the type to know the significance of red roses. Not going to worry about it.

So evening was very pleasant. My IL's are easy to get along with, just kind of Stepfordish. Didn't know quite what to say when they asked how I had lost so much weight, couldn't say stress caused by your son. I've actually put back on half of what I originally lost.

H is always the perfect husband when his family is around, but I'm not falling for that again like I did last Thanksgiving. I believed it then, and thought our relationship was really improving, only to have the bottom drop out almost as soon as they left. When I asked about his behavior at Thanksgiving, H said he likes to put up a good front around his family. Let's just say he does an excellent job. When MIL was talking about the roses he gave me, she said 'See, he's still very romantic'. Does she think I'm the one who wants to leave?

Strangely enough, in the middle of the evening, H asks me to help him change the sheets on their bed for them (where he's been sleeping). Not quite sure what that was about, like he couldn't handle it himself?, but I think it may have had something to do with dropping the rope a little. In the past I have done all (and I mean all) of the preparation for their visits - cleaning entire house, grocery shopping, getting guest room ready, changing linens, towels, etc. This time I cleaned the whole rest of the house except those areas that he has taken over, i.e., the kitchen table and the guest room. This is me not taking control. He even mentioned that he guesses they'll have to use DR table because his papers/stuff are all over kitchen table. Guess so ! I think he really thought I eventually would take care of these things before they got there.

It was certainly nice not to have to worry about it and for once H didn't seem too concerned (I assume because he had only himself to blame). In the past H has always been so concerned if things were clean enough for them, even though he wasn't helping much. (These are people who don't visit their own daughter at her house because the house isn't kept up to their standards!)

Well, I see I'm just rambling rather than focusing on anything productive. Time to get some work done.

In4Ride