Dork

What is it about family events or seeing relatives you rarely see that brings out the ‘dork’ in you? You know, trying to act cool or say the right thing and you wind up looking like something out of the zoo and getting ‘gratuitous’ laughter? Or…maybe it’s just me?
I was at my wife’s cousin’s wedding rehearsal the other day and seeing people I hadn’t seen in a long time, making idle chit chat. At one point I found myself in the food line with my daughter, McKenna, and the bride and groom walk up behind us to get in line. Now, I’ve known Thad, my wife’s cousin, since he was a little kid, visiting him every couple of years in California . He’s just graduated from college (as had his fiancé) and they were all aglow in pre-marital bliss, getting ready for the big next day. After the initial how’s things going stuff, I start to ask questions like ‘So, you excited?’, ‘You really like her, I guess?’ ‘She a nice girl?’ (both asked as she was turned away talking to someone else, thank God!), and this one, ‘So…you excited?’ Yes, AGAIN!! Lulls in conversation can be painful for me…so painful that I have to make others suffer by MAKING AN OBVIOUS STATEMENT IN THE FORM OF A QUESTION...TWICE, APPARENTLY!!! I’m surprised I didn’t really get spooked and ask if they were looking forward to having sex!! Somebody TAKE ME BACK TO THE CAR…please!
McKenna was standing with me and, thankfully, she has inherited her mother’s gift of giving me the courtesy laugh at my mostly lame attempt at humor in front of others. Or…she was caught up in all the wedding ‘giddiness' that teen girls sometimes find themselves in and was looking at me as the handsome and rugged daddy who will be there for her as she walks down the aisle and dances with her at a probably insanely overpriced reception…nah, it was probably the courtesy laugh, while thinking, ‘geez, what a dork my dad is. But I love the old guy, so I’ll try to make his embarrassment feel less tortuous.’
Am I alone in this? Am I the ONLY guy who can’t believe what he just asked or said and gives himself a mental stab in the EYE for even opening his mouth? Surely, there are others out there…and no, I’m not calling you ‘Shirley’!