Big dinner meeting coming up.

Jam Guy is meeting my dad this weekend. I've been so nervous about it for weeks. It'll be a sort of motley three-couple date: Jam Guy and me, my sister and her wife, my dad and his fiancee. It's the first time we'll all be together, and chances are we'll be together as a group of six many more times in our lives, so I have high hopes that this will be a day we'll all be able to look back on with pleasure, or at least without cringing.

Jam Guy told me last night that he's making some marmalade to give my dad. My dad really liked the marmalade that Jam Guy sent along with me for Dad's Xmas present; he was more enthusiastic about it than I can remember seeing him about a present in a long time. He did say, though, that maybe next time Jam Guy could make it with a sugar substitute, since Dad is insulin-dependent and really needs to watch his sugar intake. There was somewhat of a lack of graciousness about his suggestion, which made me a little peeved, but I passed the comment on to Jam Guy, along with all the compliments. I expected him to be a little peeved about the suggestion that he modify his recipe, the way that I was. Like me, Jam Guy keeps his kitchen and his diet fairly clear of artificial and processed ingredients--he's actually more of a purist than me about it. While he understands the value of something like Splenda to a diabetic like my father, it's not something he would typically buy or cook with. (I think it's wonderful that products like Splenda exist for people who are diabetic or have other kinds of sugar sensitivity, but I always advise using them in limited amounts, and I am actively opposed to their use by people who are healthy. I don't know a lot yet about stevia and agave, because I haven't done any research on them yet, so I can't comment there.)

Ok, but. Instead of being peeved, the amazing Jam Guy is preparing, for the first time, a jar of marmalade made with sugar substitute for my dear but sometimes difficult father. I am so bowled over by how sweet this is that I haven't any more room to be nervous about the meeting. Now I sort of can't wait.

I've introduced boyfriends to my dad before, but I've always felt sort of like I had to conceal or defend some overt deficiency in them. But now, with Jam Guy I feel like I have this tremendous golden fantasticness that I am just dying to show off.