The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth

"Guess what? The interviews went really well, and I met some of the big clients; and I got the job!"

That's what I finally told my parents a couple days ago. It's the truth... it's just a little bit of a delayed truth.

See, I figured they were having a hard enough time dealing with the whole engagement thing. With my dad already threatening to disown me, I didn't want to throw a whole other piece of craziness into my already complicated life plot. And if my new boss wasn't willing to work with me and my sensitive family situation, I wouldn't have taken the job. But she's been great and has allowed me some flexibility with going back and forth until my family was comfortable. So I took the job. And I told my parents that I was "trying out" for it in this first week here to give them some time to get used to me being gone.

And they're comfortable. I told them I had a great opportunity in D.C., which I do. It's one I wouldn't be able to have anywhere else because I'm working with federal government agencies. It's unique. And I'd be looking at more money. All those things translated well into my parents' ears. Of course, those ears would have preferred that I could've kept my own ears (and the rest of the physical me) close to home. But I've lived less than an hour's drive from my family my entire life. It's like I said before, I feel like I'm 30, going on 18. I'm finally growing up. Sort of.

My mom was sad. That's expected. My dad was sad too. But beyond that, they're both happy for me. They congratulated me and said they were proud of me. And neither of them brought up the fact that they knew I was doing this to be with Taer. They focused on the fact that this was a good career move for me; they focused on me. And I'm glad.

And I'm really glad that they haven't asked where I'm staying. I think my family likes to live in happy ignorance sometimes. To this day, I'm pretty sure they don't know that I was living with two huge, hockey-playing boys for the past two years. If we had dinner together in the city, they would simply drop me off at my front door and kiss me goodbye. "Don't ask, don't tell" isn't just for the military.

So now it's all out. Well, almost. Now we're back to tackling the engagement thing again. But I'll have to take it all one step at a time. For now, I'm happy. I'll be back in San Francisco in a week, and I'll have a full week to pack up the rest of my stuff and hang out with my family and friends. And then? Well, I don't want to be overly hopeful, but it's turning out to be a truly good Good Friday.