Almost related

Life is full of happy, joyful occasions. This afternoon I got to attend one of them: christening.

My boyfriend's sister and her husband arranged a lovely christening for their first-born, adorable baby boy, who got the name Touko Petteri today. And my boyfriend is happy godfather now. =)

This christening was truly an exclusive one, all the guests were the baby's close family; parents, grandparents, parents's siblings and their families. Baby's father's sister-in-law had brought 3 of her closeones with her, the baby's father's best friend was also there and then there was me, The New Girl, The Girlfriend, The Possible Bride.

To be honest, I wasn't least of bit nervous before this event. I'm not sure why; I mean, it's so like me to be nervous before events like these. But I wasn't. Althought I knew what was waiting for me: meething my boyfriend's father and about 30 others, who are so close to my boyfriend that he considers them to be part of his family (although they are his brother-in-law's family).

Everytime one attends a family event like that, it's pretty sure that one is bound to hear personal questions asked and personal life comments made. Well, this party was nothing different. Few mentioned, that the next baby christened would be me & my boyfriend's, that the next party the bunch would attend must be our engagement party, that we must get married at the very same church we went to at our first date...

There was a time when comments like these would have made me feel uneasy or even embarassed, but not this time, not today. I was totally onboard. Sure, we're not engaged, not planning our wedding or starting a family of our own just yet, but I can still joke about all of those things. When people mention those things, they don't mean any harm. They say those things out loud, because it's what family does. You talk, you laugh, you tease. It's the way it goes, no matter how you're related exactly.

When people invite you into their life and family, it's always an honour. A blessing. And these days there are a lot of people in my life. Loads, in fact. Now, I'm not a superwoman, so I didn't learn everybody's names, but I know most of the names. But more than that, I felt happy and warmly welcomed. That was great.

Now, week from today, I'll be meeting lots of more new people. This time they are my boyfriend's blood relatives, his aunts, uncles and cousins. It will be wonderful to see his relatives and learn more about him via them. Can't wait! And I can't wait to introduce him to my relatives, too...