When Brad and Rebecca rang the doorbell, child in tow, their parents answered bare-faced. It was just the beginning of the adventure.
"We know she asked us to wear masks," said Rebecca's mother, 54. "We had a conversation and decided we didn't feel like it." She smiled. "We love saying we'll do something and then not doing it," she added.
"It makes things easier..."
"On us."
Brad and Rebecca were polite about their first request going completely ignored. They're far too polite to make a scene. So instead of standing up for themselves, they decided to come inside anyway.
"Did you get the air purifier?" Rebecca asked.
"Oops, we forgot all about that."
Rebecca's father, 57, later chuckled. "That's another thing I tend to do. I'll say I'm going to do something, then I forget. Nobody can get mad about that. I mean, they can. But it makes them look bad."
Brad and Rebecca's relatives came out of the kitchen and insisted on hugging them. Then they started talking about politics. Brad laughed. "Oh, okay. I thought we weren't going to talk about politics."
Rebecca's uncle grinned. "We meant you can't talk about politics," he said. "The rest of us can say whatever we want." Later, he admitted he loves talking about politics. "It's fine as long I don't have to hear someone else's politics. That's when things get awkward and uncomfortable."
Rebecca said, "How's dinner coming along?"
Her mother said, "Well, we knew you'd be hungry, so we decided to wait until you showed up to start cooking. Then we thought maybe we'll spend 30 minutes debating whether to get takeout."
"Okay," Rebecca said.
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