Girls' Weekend

A while back my aunt decided that we should have a "Girls' Weekend". She invited all the ladies in the family (13 of us in total ranging in age from 8-80) to spend the night down at her beach house. Sounds like fun, right? Sure... but also anxiety inducing.

I love my family, don't get me wrong, but spending a weekend in close quarters with them seemed overwhelming. I like my space. I'm also at a weird age in my family. I'm too old to really "hang" with the younger cousins. (I'm 10 years older than my next oldest cousin) but I'm too young to hang with the "grown-ups". This is weird because my sister, who is only 19 months younger than me, has no trouble fitting in with either group... so I guess it's just me!

Also, my aunt can be somewhat judgemental. And it's only gotten worse the older I've gotten. Or maybe I've just noticed it more. She has definite opinions on what people should eat, when they should eat, how much or how little they should eat. And she's not afraid to share those opinions with everyone. I try to avoid that kind of discussion.

Anyway, the weekend wasn't horrible. We arrived at the house around 1pm and spent the afternoon painting pottery and eating. Then we went to a Christmas parade nearby where I got to meet up very briefly with my college roommate. (My aunt had a very tight schedule and that barely allowed for me to sneak off for 5 minutes to see my friend!). Then it was back to the house for dinner, more painting, movies, etc. I actually was quite full from all the snacking in the afternoon and did not partake in the pizza. Sure, I got questioned about it. But I was able to just say I wasn't hungry at the moment and I'd eat later. I didn't, of course, because my aunt was very quick to clean up. She's one of those people who will stand over you and whisk your plate off into the dishwasher before the last bite is even in your mouth!

I went to bed early and the next morning we woke up to a bountiful breakfast, played a game and thankfully were back on our way by 1pm! Just barely 24 hours of family time!

I didn't escape unscathed. My aunt literally backed me into a corner at one point shortly before we were leaving and "confronted" me about losing weight. It was more than a casual, 'you look good, have you lost weight?' sort of thing. It was uncomfortable, but I got through it. She always words such 'compliments' in a way that make me twitchy.

I had fun. It was nice to spend some time with my grandmother. It was nice to have so many cousins together doing fun things. And it was nice to finally get to see the beach house (I actually work during the summer so I'm never able to go down there with everyone else). But I'm glad to have that over with.

I'm overall pretty pleased with how I dealt with eating. I snacked. I enjoyed myself. But, I knew my limits and never once got to the point of physical discomfort. Despite my anxiety at being there I didn't eat to distract or soothe myself either so that's a plus.

I give the weekend an A- and myself an A.