This weekend, Amelia’s boyfriend Nick, aka Skates, drove up from Philly for the weekend to celebrate Amelia’s birthday.  This, in my mind, was a milestone.  A boyfriend visiting the parent’s house for the weekend. This requires all kinds of conversation, rules and a little stress.

He arrived late Friday night after dealing with Philly traffic and a major accident on the NYS Thruway.  Chip and I were in bed when he arrived. (DING-DING-DING) are they alone in the house somewhere? Unsupervised?  No problem. Chip posted a sign on his bedroom door clearly instructing him where he will be sleeping…alone…in a twin bed and across the hall from Jack… check!

On Saturday, Amelia planned some nice things to do to show him around town until the family birthday party at 3pm.  Oh yes, my sister, brother, mother and my niece and her fiancé were all in attendance.  This was going to be fun.  The last time we had a boyfriend visit our family (outside of Chip) was somewhere in the mid 1980’s when Amy’s boyfriend came for Thanksgiving.  a.) he was not a Dallas Cowboys fan and b.) he dropped an olive on the floor for which we were relentless about teasing him.

We never saw him again.

Skates, however,  seem to hold his own and Chip and I thought he was doing ok.  He took the ribbing quite well and even Grammee said she liked him.

Just some casual observations of where he scored big or perhaps where he lost points:

1. He made his bed every morning.
2. His room was neat.
3. He ate my pasta with home made sauce and meatballs and went back for seconds.
4. I did not observe any PDA.  That’s big in Chip’s book.
5. I heard his voice as he actually sang Happy Birthday.
6. Perhaps after reading this, he will still want to come back and visit again.
7. Nick has good taste.  His birthday gifts to her were kind and thoughtful.
8. There may have been a few demerits here and there but none worthy to make mention of here.

But wait, I don’t want you to get too excited.  I am still skeptical, and I always will be. She is my child and I still look at her as a kid.

Upon his arrival, he was presented with a Philadelphia Flyers toothbrush.  He thought it was cool.  My intent was to send that toothbrush to a lab for testing.  He took it home with him, drats.  But no worries, there are hair samples on his pillow and fingerprints on the glasses. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Entry into the Circle of Trust?  Not so fast.