tea (and all that that implies?)

Tomorrow my dad is taking me to a Father and Daughter Tea event that's going on at church. When this event was first announced during this past Saturday's service, I thought "hmm, that'd be nice," but then my past experience/common sense kicked in and I dismissed thoughts of the event from my mind. Then on Mon Dad asked me "Did you want to go to that?" It surprised me because he doesn't do the Father/Daughter thing, at least he hasn't for quite awhile, but I said sure. So I called up the person in charge and signed us up.

Part of the reason I didn't think much about going at first is because of the word tea. I associate this word with fancy cups, dresses and the color pink, high society and social refinement. I don't do frilly, girly dress-up. I'm a tom-boy and have been since I was about ten years old. My idea of dressing up is pants that aren't jeans and a shirt with buttons and cuffs. My idea of a fun get-together is beer, pool, and loud music. Also, this tea was mainly meant for young girls and their dads but was then opened to any age group. Hopefully I'm not the only attending daughter over 20.

Because of these factors I'm a little nervous about tomorrow. I have nice clothes so that's not a problem. Also the King and Queen (it's supposed to be a British High Tea) are old friends of mine from Junior High church group, so I don't think I'll be as uncomfortable as I would around strangers. It's the playing it by ear that I'm nervous about, the pretending. I don't like personally being a part of make-belive in the real world, probably a hold-over from some reprimand during my childhood. That may also be the reason I don't like to read books written in the first person, I prefer to be separate from the story. But my dad will be there, a kind of security blanket if you will. I'll just have to refrain from derisive snickering, rolling my eyes or arching my eyebrows as a cover for my anxiety.