It's A New Dawn, It's A New Day, It's A New Life ... For Me ... And I'm Feeling Good ...

As most of you know already, i have been in a relationship for a scandalous 3 weeks already and i'm kinda getting used to it. It feels nice. And warm. And soft. And even though my boyfriend is a good deal younger than me, we dont really care about it. First because it doesnt matter that much in the end, second, because if i wouldnt mention it, nobody would know or notice there is such a big age gap and last but not least, because people whose opinion matters to you dont really care about your boyfriend or girlfriend's age as long as they see you happy. And i am.
I guess there is always a moment in the relationship, a dreaded moment in the relationship when you're meeting your other half's friends. I'm saying dreaded because a lot of the success of said relationship depends on this meeting. I know you're not gonna be dating his friends but come on, some of them have been in his life forever, they know him since he wasnt even talking yet, not even walking! So whether you want it or not, whether you care or not, putting HIS friends on YOUR side makes a hell of a difference.
My dreaded encounter, the moment when everybody would be putting me under a microscope happens quite early in my relationship: a mere week after we started dating. And since we're gonna be meeting the "clan", might as well do things properly ... i met them ALL. It was his cousin's birthday so pretty much everybody he knows and gets on with was there.
I wasnt dying of anxiety, end of it all, i dont really have to prove anything to anybody. Just being with him and presented as his girlfriend should have been be good enough. She's with me, she's off limit and you accept her in the clan cuz i'm the one bringing her in and because i say so. This is a bit how it feels no? Well this is the way i think it feels.
Yet you know, afterwards, i wondered "how i did?" The answer was quick to come. When his cousin (the birthday boy) saw me again a few days later and said to me, IN FRENCH: "bonjour Mathilde, comment ca va?" i felt happy inside, warm inside and thought: fiuuuu, i think i did pretty good then! Especially knowing that his cousin means the world to him. Apart from the blood relationship, they're like brothers to eachother as well as best friends. And let's be honest, he's been there 20 more years than i have.

Well yesterday evening, it was HIS turn to be sent in the lion's cage and to meet my friends. It was a bit unexpected, my very good friend and now neighbor Nahomi was doing her house-warming/Posada/Xmas/New Year/Dia de los Reyes party. And even though i knew everybody who was there, most of them people from work, the only person who's opinion mattered to me was hers. And when she told him "hey, feel like home, help yourself in the fridge with anything you may need, do you want something else, you're ok", i knew he'd made it too. Even he told me how good he felt at the time, how good it feels to be accepted in your girlfriend's "entourage".

His friends like me, my friends like him, how things can possibly go wrong?