But....With *People*???

 So, the other day, Steven's family was all due to come over and play games and eat dinner and such...Now, let me be perfectly clear: I *adore* his family. Every one of them. And, it was his aunt's birthday...so, I wanted this to be a big deal.


  Steven and I live in a definite fixer-up....but, I was determined every inch of every room(that they were going to see, anyway) was going to be spotless. It was going to be *perfect*. He'd even promised to come home by 4 in the afternoon to help me clean and prepare! I was psyched....

And totally stressed. Whereas I love it while it's happening, the prep for these kinds of things REALLY freak me out.

Four o' clock rolls around. Four thirty. No Steven.

Four forty.

Five till five, my phone rings. Relieved, but still slightly miffed, I answered.

"Where *are* you? I'm not done, nothing's ready...you were supposed to be home an hour ago! I tried to call..." But, he'd been on a motorcycle ride with his dad...And,then...

"And I had to go find my aunt...she tried to come early and got lost. Don't worry though...we're pulling in." Wait a minute--WE? People are here?? EARLY??

And the floor's only been mopped three times?? WHAT??

Cue utter meltdown, tears, hanging up, throwing the phone, and going into a vaccuming frenzy. Steven sauntered through the door, while his aunt was still getting out of the car. Normally, I could have looked and really realized just how good he looked after a ride...Not then. Then, all I noticed was the house was still dirty and PEOPLE were here. 


Not one of my better moments, for sure. I yelled, and screamed, and shoved. He tried apologizing for being late.

He tried hugging me(cue shove).

He tried talking to me.

I was not in a very hearing mood.

Finally, he propelled me into the living room, separate from anyone, turned me around, and swatted me, several times. I honestly don't know if I stopped bratting because it hurt, (he doubts this possibility), or because it just stunned me.

"There are PEOPLE," I hissed, mortified.

"There's one person, she's in the other room, and you need to chill. So. CHILL."

And, I did. We all had a great time with the games. Like he'd told me, no one was judging. They didn't say, "Hey, Grace...you missed a speck here." They said, "HA! I WON!" (We played Balderdash, btw...awesome game.)

Still got spanked for the attitude and disrespect later, naturally. But, overall...the world didn't come to an end...everything went smoothly...

And his brother's coming over tonight.