My mother's family is Catholic so I have kept pretty quiet about my conversion to Judaism. My immediate family knows and two cousins know. As weddings are approaching and more family time is on the horizon, I found it pretty hard not to mention this major thing that is new with me. My grandparents are great people but their sensibilities are very non-PC. At my brother's high school graduation party, my grandfather talked at length about the difference between Chinese and Japanese. Back in the day, my grandparents hit the roof when my mother married a Hungarian. My mother's family held the scandal torch high and passed it down.
My grandmother was hospitalized for several weeks due to a blood clot in her arm. In one of my mom's visits, they wound up talking about "Sex in the City" (my grandma is pretty hip). When Charlotte's conversion came up, my mom told me she was very close to saying, "Oh yeah, like Anna." With that almost-slip, I had a very short window to tell my grandparents about my conversion. My grandmother was sent home last week and is on Coumadin (a blood thinner that I am intimately familiar with). I visited them yesterday. It wasn't just me and my grandparents. One of my aunts was there but she's cool so I didn't mind. Plus, it saved me another layer of family to announce my conversion to. I got to have nice talks with both grandparents and share any wisdom I have amassed from my history of horrifying hospitalizations.
My fear was that they'd be upset, try to talk me out of it, or kick me out of the family. But I had forgotten that they are old people who have dealt with a lot more scandalous occurences in their family. Time has worn down their outrage. So, I broached the topic by saying that I'm taking Hebrew classes. My grandmother thought that was great and asked me if I was thinking of converting. I said yes and she said, "That's wonderful." Aww... My grandfather made a circumcision joke. As I was getting ready to pack up and leave, I wanted to make sure they were cool with the whole conversion thing. Grandpa didn't hear me clearly so Grandma explained, "She wants to know if we're okay with her becoming Jewish since we're Catholic." In one sentence, she totally got it. They are okay with it and my aunt was okay with it. I'll probably get some jokes directed my way around Xmas but I am psyched! I can be the complete me with my family.
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