Had a wonderful time at the convention with SO and friends this weekend. SO really is great fun and much easier to be around now that he's come to understand he no longer needs drama in his life. Whew! Am I ever glad he learned that lesson!
There were a couple of tense moments, mostly of my own making, but I think I handled them very well. During a social gathering on Friday night, SO spent a fair amount of time talking to one woman in particular. I experienced a fair bit of angst around it, but I worked through it, mostly by engaging myself in conversation with other people. It was tough going for a bit, but I got through it.
We had another tense moment when I felt that SO was pressuring me to perform in ways (advanced public speaking) which I am not yet ready. We were both involved in a brief but very funny skit on Saturday night during the closing banquet to introduce the fall convention. He was pressuring me not to use the script, although most of the others were going to rely on it. The first time he brought it up, I jokingly asked that we change the subject. He got the hint, but then it came up again shortly before the banquet, in conversation with another of our "gang". I smiled, rolled my eyes, and jokingly asked them both to cut me a little slack as I was much newer at this than they. SO's been in this organization for over 7 years, plus has comedy improv experience. I've only been at this for 4 months and don't have the same level of skill. When I used the expression, "back the truck up," both SO and the other male buddy put their hands up and said, "Ok! Ok!". I think I made my point without creating too much agitation. I later teased SO about being bossy. He agreed.
One way I could have handled this differently was to more softly state to SO that "I just am not comfortable with my skill level yet to be able to do it your way."
I'm getting there, in both forms of communication.
He agreed. 
