My family is coming to visit. I am at a loss for words. I hate it when they come here.



My dad, stepmum, sister, and niece. They all live in Manchester. I love all of them. But the whole lot of them together is so overwhelming. I mean, they can't all even fit in my flat. They have to get a hotel room.



It's not that there's any tension or unresolved issues or anything I have with them. It's just they belong to a different part of my life, and when those two parts of my life mingle with one another, it makes me very extremely uncomfortable. This is why I hate it HATE IT when Chad spends time with my family.



See, my dad is British, but he moved to the states and attended an American university. That's where he met my mum, an American. Soon after I was born (and my sister was 4), we moved to Manchester. My mum and dad split up when I was 10. I moved back stateside with my mum, but my sister, Caroline, stayed with my dad. I stayed in the states until I was 18. My mum died, and although I was enrolled at university, I saw no point in remaining. I moved to Manchester to live with my dad and enrolled in university in London. Then I moved to London, where I met Chad.

It was about this time when my sister met Will. He was great, and the whole family loved him. My dad walked her down the aisle after she'd known Will for like 2 weeks. Okay, it was more like 5 months, but still. This was big for Caroline because she never does anything without thinking about it and compulsively listing the pros and cons. Will was a nice change for her. The day they got back from their honeymoon in Nice, they found out Will had advanced cancer. He lived a year, and the day before he died, Caroline found out she was pregnant with Chole. It's all very dramatic, and no one in the family has really gotten over it.

Anyway, they're coming tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.