New Socialization event coming up for me.....

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I just wanted to share this. My wife shared with me last night that there's a picnic coming up this Sunday which be attended by families that belong to a home school group that our kids will be a part of starting this fall. I wished I would have had a bit more time to mentally prepare for it, but it's a lot better than hearing about it only the day before.

I'm guessing it will be Moms conversing with each other and Dads likewise. I can't say I'm looking forward to it but I'm keeping a positive attitude. I have absolutely no interest in sports which sometimes limits me in male group conversations.

Again, I'm keeping a positive attitude, but doing this kind of thing is one of my least favorite things to do...

I think the main thing for me in situations like new group socializing is to try to relax as much as possible and self-regulate by being mindful about not going off on tangents or into too much detail about things. I think most of it will be outside so maybe I can get away with wearing sunglasses thereby eliminating the NT need for eye contact.

Wish me luck!

You'll do Magna cum laude!

Another thing guys are interested in: mortgages LOL

Thank you for the encouragement, Kortie. I'll post back here after the event and let you know how it went.

Only sometimes? I must be hanging out with the wrong people!


Just the kind of planning ahead I'd be doing! Google earth is handy for outdoor events, you can spy in advance where all the best foliage to hide behind is!

Sounds awful; but I hope you manage to enjoy yourself (or at least emerge unscathed!)

An update on the picnic event I attended yesterday with my family. It went well. A few hairy situations from an auditory perspective, but all was well.

We arrived on time, the kids got along with the other kids there and other families got there a bit later. This was the first time we were at the host's home and the first time I met the male owner. He and I were able to visit on the back deck while he started grilling the hot dogs for the sizable group. I asked if he needed help with anything and we had a relaxed conversation. It was fairly hot and humid. I wore a T-shirt that I'd never worn before that was 60% cotton and 40% polyester. Normally I like to wear 100% cotton T Shirts. I wore a short sleeve shirt over the T shirt and jeans. I generally sweat a lot when it's humid and yesterday was no exception. As time went on, it felt as though rivulets of sweat were running down my back. I thought it was going to show through my outer shirt but I don't think it did.

Eye contact, I think I did fine with it when I talked to people.

There were only a few times in the attached garage where the picnic tables were set up when the noise level was overwhelming with kids running through yelling and many different conversations at once. I started to have feelings of panic briefly and thoughts of almost wanting to say: "This is too much!! !!", but I held it together and calmed down and all was fine. Good conversations and overall I believe a success.

I don't get out much to those types of events so describing something that many others wouldn't give a second thought about was something I was thinking about quite a bit before the day.

I can cross that off my list!

Glad to hear that all went well! If I manage some "good conversations", I'm usually pretty happy with myself, especially when mingling with strangers.