Dinner...Small talk...and stuff...

So...the 6th was our four year anniversary. :) We went out to the place we went on our first date (which we had not been back to oddly enough)...Benihana's....a Japanese steakhouse. So this is the type of place where you sit with other people and watch the guy flips stuff around and eventually cook your dinner. So it's 10 to a table and the other eight people are all one family. There is one older gentleman, two older ladies, a woman probably in her early 40s and four teenage boys. So we get to talking and eventually find out the older gentleman and one of the ladies have been married for almost 50 years and they immigrated here from Israel a long time ago...about 30-40 years ago I think. The other lady is his sister who came over in the early 90s. The younger lady is their daughter who was five when they moved here. Two of the boys are her sons and the other two are their friends. So, they are world travelers...and US travelers as well. They've settled here because he works at the UT Health Science Center. I imagine he has his PhD and was recruited to work here (why else come to SA??? but that could be a temporary hatred for the humidity talking). Long story long, they are a VERY nice family and we all have a great time. Of course they are congratulating us on four years (totally sounds less cool next to the couple who've been married longer than my grandparents have been alive, but whatever...j/k)....and the baby. Of course the staff sings us some Japanese song which I assumed meant something like happy happy joy joy...and then the waitress tells us this family paid for our dinner. Ugh....what? That's like a minimum $80 meal! They are rich though, this we know (though they did make it a point to make sure we knew they were Armenian--NOT Jewish) because they tell us they doe this every Wednesday....so quick math of $30 times at least six people a week...plus a tip...yeah...So it's all said and done and we're very grateful and thank them profusely...Chris is at a loss so he gives them his number in case the boys want a tour of an Air Force Base????....hey, at least it was something!!! We were so shocked we really didn't know what to say...they hugged goodbye like we were BFF...and that's all she wrote. :) No one else seems to think this was as big of a deal as we did...it was just so nice and so...unusual...in a good way!




So...my Mom's generation and definitely her Mom's generation were either taught or naturally blessed with the ability to have small talk and be gracious and not awkward. I unfortunately was not so blessed with this trait. I shy away from talking on the phone and talking to people I don't know that well as often as I can...the problem then lays in the fact that being pregnant is apparently the one thing that makes people want to talk to me. So random people come up and ask me how I am feeling. Now...I could answer them with...uh, I can't breathe, I feel like I swallowed a cup of grease or maybe even just fall asleep while talking to them would get the point across? But then I get stuck b/c...I don't know these people...why would I tell them this business? This is small talk....so I always, ALWAYS say, "Good, and you?" Which is completely not the point of them asking me that. But I just don't know how to handle this. I wish I could blame the pregnancy but its really just me. :) Any small talk that I make with people will inevitable turn to me making a joke they don't get or me thinking, "Why did I say that?" This may seem odd since I definitely categorize myself as an outgoing person...and I am....it's all very confusing. Does anyone else look down at the floor so much as me...afraid of the random people? :) I don't know when I became such a dope...but I remember really being keen to this new development when I met Chris' Mom and Grandpa...and also when I went to Airman Leadership School. The family visit was awful b/c I think I kept telling jokes that they didn't get (well, that hasn't really changed I don't think, lol) but I also, inexplicably, started saying cuss words more often? Like...WHY!? Chris would be like Shana...why are you saying these things in front of MY MOM? And I could NOT explain it. Lol. I was nervous? Airman Leadership School was a prime example of the anomaly I am. We need to introduce ourselves...so I volunteer to go first (b/c I am outgoing Shana)..and then I promptly tell them my name and that if they see me leaving the room alot it is because I have the world's tiniest bladder and having a set schedule freaks me out b/c of this fact. WHY DID THESE STRANGERS NEED TO KNOW THIS? I DON'T KNOW!!! Anyway...I've rambled enough about that...

So...Smokey was acting crazy the other day. He was following me everywhere. He does that anyway, but this was on a whole different level!! I would almost trip over him b/c he was RIGHT there. I did an experiment of walking in circles around the coffee table...and he kept right on my heels....it was weird!!! So Chris goes to work the next day and they ALL tell them their dogs did that like a week before they/their spouses went into labor. HOLY CRUD! We were freaking out. And then we stopped freaking out. I don't really think he's a coming yet. Of course I am not an expert in this matter at all...

Yeah....he's pretty much out of room though...and I think he is restless. He will push up against the left side of my ribs and my right hip at the same time as if he is trying, through sheer force, to make his place bigger. I don't think it's going to get much bigger though, so....yeah...

That's it for now. Thanks for all the replies and the well wishes and everything...I've really enjoyed it the whole time. Three weeks to go! (OMG)