A Refresher Course in Social Skills
On Saturday I was at a lovely garden wedding. I enjoyed it and was glad to be there, but when I was driving home I got to thinking that I need a refresher course in social skills.
When I moved to London, Ontario, and moved in with my Aunt Jean, she introduced me to her friends, and took me to dine out, and I gradually learned to drop my country-bumpkin ways and to behave like a city woman with manners. I was polite and listened to others at the wedding, but sensed that I was afraid to initiate moves to some degree.
Fortunately, Aunt Jean is coming to visit this next weekend! I’m going to get a chance at a short refresher course.
Maybe I have become a hard-working geek, concerned mostly with computers and only connecting with most of my friends by email. I don’t have time for a very active social life, but I ought to make sure I know how to eat and talk in public, right? 
On Sunday afternoon I was at an Appreciation Program for the volunteers of the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan (MHSS). Although they pay me for my website work for them, they wanted me to be included. So I got a certificate too, with a fancy gold border.
I had prepared some invitation cards to the seminar I want to offer on August 23rd, but when I saw how many seniors were there, I wondered if I’d have any better luck than at the wedding. However, over refreshments I had some lively conversations with various people, including one woman who came up and introduced herself as Aunt Lydia to a good friend of mine in Edmonton. We hit it off well, and a bit later I introduced her to another genealogy contract/relative who is in her 80s - and they discovered they were related! Agatha (the woman in her 80s) mentioned that she was having problems with her computer, so I was able to pull out my cards and offer her my services. Soon I was passing them out all around that round table! I went home feeling much improved as social miss-fit.