House Guests and Tastings

Last weekend we had our first house guests at my new townhouse. My fiancé and I welcomed her sister and brother-law in from Texas, as they are helping us with some wedding planning. I have never had to cater to house guests before, and it was on my mind for quite some time.

Here is what I was thinking

1. Bathrooms

Yea, we have two bathrooms, but will they be occupied at the same time? My fiancé and I got this townhouse for a few reasons. One, we really like the location and price, but more importantly, it had two full bathrooms. Now that we would have people staying with us, I potentially could have no access to the bathroom.

2. Would they understand?

A lot of times, I make a lot of noise (gas) when in the bathroom. My fiancé is already used to it. I thought about using all the tricks I have in the bag, such as running our loud fan in the bathroom and flushing the toilet as I use it. But, my nerves were still shot.

I was so worked up

Because I was so worked up and nervous, my stomach was acting up all week prior to the weekend. I wasn’t thinking rationally. My fiancé then told me: “Paul, remember my sister is a nurse.” “Of course she will understand.” That still didn’t make me feel better.

That weekend, I drove home from work, praying that they were still out doing errands before returning to the house. They were! I was able to get in and out of the bathroom with no problem. We then took a long train ride down to the city, to go to a tasting. I thought our private tasting would be in an industrial kitchen (because of our caterer), but I was mistaken.

Our tasting was in an apartment that was rented out by the caterer. It was a small studio, with a nice kitchen, dinner table, and full bathroom. Of course, the bathroom was in the same room as the dining room and again I found my self a nervous wreck. I could just see the scene from "Along Came Polly!”

I ended up so nervous that I had to excuse myself a number of times to use the bathroom. At this point, I was so uncomfortable, I had to relieve myself. I don’t know what they thought, but as I returned to the table, nothing was said.

Although it ended up okay, I am glad to not have guests any time soon

When we returned home, I felt better that they seemed to not notice. Maybe I was being too hard on myself. But I always seem to get this way. The next day, we went to a local battlefield because my future sister and brother in law wanted to be touristy. I did not like being out on the battlefield without a bathroom in sight. I became so upset that I just excused myself and walked home. I met the rest of my party back at the house. The rest of the weekend went by great, but I am so glad that this weekend, and for the foreseeable future, we have no houseguests.