Just another day in the neighborhood

Today we get to go out and play normal family. There is a potluck at the house of one of the parents of a kid in my youngest daughters AP Chem class. Seems the teacher might possibly be leaving next year. And that was the excuse they needed to crank up the coals out in the back yard by the pool. Frankly in the two years my daughter has been going to this small private school in Charlottesville I have successfully avoided involvement in any social activity with the parents. Unless you count back to school night. My impression of the school and the parents is good intentioned, upper middle class, suburbanites with abismal organizational skills.

I'm not a very social animal. I hate small talk. More than that I hate that uncomfortable feeling I get in suburban social groups. I mean, I'm married with two kids, we own our own home (not in a suburb), we have an SUV (Gaggg), what more do they want? I can't talk about religion or politics (Duh!) but there are many other subjects that can't be broached as well. I can't get too deeply into my elder daughter Chelsea--who is gay, which I support--in case the subject turns to boyfriends, or grandchildren, and the like. Being non-Christian (neo-pagan) I can't help but notice how often GOD shows up in casual conversation, and not always in subtle ways. I make a comment about how nice the weather is and the response is something like, "Yes, we should thank GOD for this lovely day he has provided." Not very subtle. I have to bite my tongue and hope no one knows what it means if I accidently let a "blessed be" slip out. Usually they think I'm referring to "THE LORD". I don't try to correct their assumption. Funny how everyone assumes if you are white in the American south you are Christian.

I find conversations in groups of women to be totally boring so I usually try to sit with the guys who when they are not talking about sports can be somewhat inciteful. Women tend to talk about kids, or clothes, or shopping, or diets, blah, blah, blah! Men actually talk about ideas. Some women are uncomfortable with my aligning myself on the guys side of the room. I've actually had a few come over and try to gently herd me back to the girls side. I fake a dumb look and stay right where I am.

You can tell I'm really looking forward to the pot luck. The things I do for my kids. Geeezzzz.