The Nick&Dina world around Nick&Dina (and soon Alex).
I totally understand that the rest of the world’s world doesn’t revolve around us.
It revolves around other things.
Yes, yes, yes, the world already knows this.
Still, some examples:
Pregnancy & Alcohol
We know few drinks won’t kill either Dina or Alex. Dina will have a some wine or beer when she feels like it. The thing is, she rarely does feel like it. Plus he smell of hard alcohol turns her nose. She chooses not to drink, both consciously and by listening to what her body’s telling her.
We understand that you think differently. Many of you have told us that we’re bing silly, trendy, over-protective, and paranoid. Some of you do it almost every time you notice Dina not drinking. Thank you for collectively beating it into us.
Please don’t be offended if we don’t bother to argue with you and just ignore you.
Time To Eat
Lately, we get really cranky if we don’t eat when it’s time for us to eat (i.e., when our bodies tell us to). I’m especially vigilant with this with respect to Dina. Once she’s crashed and burned, it’s hard to get her functioning again. I have no qualms about interrupting what she’s doing and suggesting it continue somewhere she can get or eat food. This includes conversations with her. Hopefully you won’t be offended by this and will be accommodating. Unfortunately, if you are not, we’re not going to accommodate you either. She just plain needs to eat.
Gatherings, Change
I’ve blogged about who’s invited, social dynamics, social politics, inclusion, exclusion, etc. in the past. Suffice to say, edges are going to be harder now that a lot of our energy is diverted elsewhere. Sometimes you’ll be invited, sometimes you won’t. We don’t always have space, energy, time, or money for everyone.
We have a better chance of seeing people that we both like, and who like both of us. One of the joys of being a couple. We’ll also deal better with people who can deal with our odd newfound quirks, like Dina skipping alcohol or needing to eat while talking to you. When Alex comes along, the same rule will be extended. If you don’t like Alex, or Alex doesn’t like you, there’s less of a chance that we’ll have the time or opportunity to see you.
This cuts both ways. We have people / acquaintances / friends that don’t have time for us. There are people we’d like to get to know better but one of us (usually me) rubs them the wrong way. So they avoid us. We’re saddened by this, but accept it as a fact of life.
For what it’s worth, I wasn’t at all implying that it was mandatory that Dina drink – hell, _I_ don’t drink, to a 1st approximation, so I’d be insane to be trying to force it on someone else – But I hadn’t been in on any of your previous discussions on the topic. It sounds like you’ve got the right idea – if it doesn’t feel right, don’t, if it does, be reasonable.
we feel exactly the same way about all of the above, and I hope the two (soon three) of you and the two (now three) of us feel the same way about each other!