There were a few attempts from Andrew to introduce Jay to his parents but Jay was not perfectly ready for it at that time as she was looking for jobs and she didn’t know if it was the right time. She would often say “no, no – not now, please” when Andrew would call his parents from Manchester and Mum, on the other side, would ask “Can we talk to Jay? Can we see her?”.
Jay was a little concerned about what would happen – would Andrew’s parents be happy or will they be worried that he is seeing someone who is not from the UK, etc. Will this mark the end to the rosy period or will it take us ahead?
On 7th July 2019, Andrew introduced Jay to his parents on FaceTime. Jay also had found her new Job on this day and was much excited to start on the 15th July 2019. To celebrate this occasion, we went for a walk to a park in Cheadle sat down on one of the benches and casually initiated a FaceTime call. It wasn’t a pre-planned call but both Mum and Dad were very happy to see Jay. They were very happy, smiley and joyful whilst talking to Jay. That was the day we would say “our relationship became official”.
Ever since Jay spoke to Andrew’s Mum and Dad she started becoming more comfortable with Andrew and family. Every Sunday Jay would ask “Are we talking to Mum and Dad yet?”
In September 2019, Andrew and Jay went to London to celebrate Andrew’s birthday. A day after, they met Andrew’s Mum at London St.Pancras where Mum was already waiting for an hour to meet Andrew and Jay. The moment Mum saw both of them, she tapped the watch saying “you’re late” but she had a massive smile on her face which was very happy and welcoming. Later in the evening we went to Kent and met Andrew’s Dad. We stayed in Kent for the weekend and we travelled back to Manchester on Sunday.
Very soon after, Jay realised that it was time for her to introduce Andrew to her parents. So she was brave enough to spill the beans. She started with Murali (Jay’s brother) and then Murali let their parents know about it. Murali has been a great support to translate the initial conversations between Andrew and parents. There were both funny and serious conversations, but it all went well seeing Jay and Andrew happy. Since then, Jay and Andrew talk to Jay’s parents on video calls almost every day and Andrew has learnt a few Tamil sentences to talk to Amma and Appa.
“It can take a little extra believing for some dreams to come true!”
We are happy that both of our families were supportive of our relationship right from when we mentioned it to them. Our parents’ support helped us to concentrate on the bigger picture, like being together. Eventually this led to the “becoming official stage” and a lot more!
