Reason I Love Tyler #55

I've been told that when you marry a man you also marry his family.

Tyler Wants Me to Be a Part of His Family

I believe marriage is about two people fighting the good fight til the end of their days. Alone. Or, you know, if they want to add babies into the mix, I suppose that's their prerogative. If I was ever so lucky to find my partner in life, that would be bitchin' awesome. I could imagine our future house, our future vacations, our future childfree and therefore silent Sunday mornings. But I never gave much thought to my future mother-in-law or father-in-law, potential brothers and sisters-in-law, or possible nieces and nephews.

I am an only child, which means I have no siblings to make me a sister-in-law or an aunt. But both of my parents have a good number of siblings who have rendered a total of 19 cousins for me. And now I have like 13 second cousins. And some of them are pregnant. I have a large extended family and once I marry Tyler, it's going to double.

The main reason for our vacation was for me to meet Tyler's family. Since they live in southern California, it's not just a hop, skip, jump down the road like it was for my parents. Otherwise, I would have met them much sooner. I won't get into all the details, but Tyler's parents divorced when he was young and remarried other people, so I had the fun of meeting two sets of parents. Luckily, all were welcoming of me and with the family stamp of approval, Tyler felt confident proposing.

The next day, Tyler's mom threw him a birthday/he-got-engaged-too! party where I met Tyler's favorite aunt and two of my future sisters-in-law and their husbands and children. It dawned on me that I was going to be an aunt. I AM GOING TO BE AN AUNT. It was something I never set my heart on because, you know, I'd have to get married to ever become Fun Aunt Jordyn. But now I am and I'm going to be Fun Aunt Jordyn! (Well, technically, I'm going to be Fun Aunt Jo because one of my future nieces is named Jordan and she was in the family first, so it's only fair.)

I'm used to big family functions so the party didn't seem too crazy to me. It felt right. By marrying me, Tyler will not only be bringing me into his life forever, but also into the lives of the people who are most important to him. I feel very privileged and proud to become a member of this wonderful family.