Ritual is important to us as human beings. It ties us to our traditions and our histories.
– Miller Williams

"You know, my parents are really okay with staying in a hotel!"

"Yeah, my Mom would kill me if she knew that I let your parents stay in a hotel!"

"It's not as though there are no hotels in Wisconsin, you know! They've actually stayed in hotels before."

"You know my Mom. She loves to dote on people. Especially now that I'm out of the nest. Besides, imagine if it were the other way around. Do you think your mom would let my parents stay in a hotel?"

Paige and Emily were on their way to the airport in Philadelphia to pick up Nick and Marlene McCullers. They were visiting for the long, Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend to meet Emily's parents and use the tickets for the tour of the city that Emily had given them for Christmas.

"Are you worried that your parents won't get along with my parents?"

"More like worried that they'll start planning our wedding," Paige muttered. She tensed up immediately panicked over having let that comment slip out even as a joke. Less than six months into a relationship was way too early to invoke the "W" word.

Emily looked over her and smiled, grasping her hand. "You know, they're going to have to fight Hanna for the wedding planner job!"

Emily dropped Paige off at the Arrivals door and circled around to the cell-phone lot. Once Paige had claimed her parents and they had claimed their luggage, she gave Emily a call. Emily brought the car around. They had planned for Nick McCullers to sit in the front seat, where there was more legroom, but he would have none of that. "Far be it from me to come between you two!" Emily was secretly relieved at this. The thought of driving to Rosewood with her girlfriend's father riding shotgun was a bit intimidating. Paige spent most of the car ride turned around in her seat, catching up with her parents. Emily was smiling to herself at the way they got along together. She couldn't help reaching over to Paige's knee and smiling at the sheer cuteness of it. Paige looked away from her parents for a moment to smile back at Emily, putting her hand on top of Emily's on her knee, not really knowing what brought on the gesture.

Marlene McCullers greeted Pam Fields with a warm hug. Their husbands greeted each other with a firm handshake. "Thanks for serving our country, Wayne!"

"It's an honor. Did you serve? You carry yourself like a Marine."

"Just JROTC and ROTC. The things I learned there have stuck with me, I guess."

Pam got her guests settled in their room and they all piled into Wayne Fields' SUV and headed to dinner. When Emily was younger, she had a craving for pancakes, so it became a Fields family tradition to go out for breakfast on Friday nights.

Nick McCullers and Wayne Fields spent much of the evening comparing notes from college. They'd both gone to Big Ten schools, so they couldn't resist renewing the friendly rivalry.

"I must have played against you at some point."

"I would've been on the bench when you were there. I didn't get any playing time till the year after you graduated."

"I understand that Paige was very athletic in high school. She didn't want to pursue sports in college?"

"No. We discussed it, but she decided that wasn't who she wanted to be anymore."

"Was it hard to let go of that dream?"

"For her or for me?" Nick laughed. "Because I think that I took it harder than she did! You know, I haven't always understood my daughter, but I've always stood behind her. She's my gift from God, and I treasure her."

"Yeah – there's nothing like a daughter's love, is there?"

"Nothing in the world," Nick agreed, looking across the table at his daughter. Feeling his eyes on him, Paige looked away from her conversation and shot him a smile.

Paige and Emily stayed in Rosewood overnight so that they could all drive into Philadelphia in one car and save on parking. Paige slept in Emily's room. Emily slept on the couch. They got an early start for a Saturday, because they wanted to get to Sabrina's for breakfast before the line grew too impossibly long. Breakfast for two meals in a row was a bit much, but Paige didn't want her parents to go back to Wisconsin without experiencing a Philadelphia classic.

The tour was a hop-on-hop-off arrangement, allowing them to spend as much or as little time at each site as they pleased. Nick McCullers' one goal was to do a Rocky Run up the steps of the art museum. It was incredibly cheesy, and everyone refused to join him – except Emily. She played along even through Nick's humming of the Rocky theme and through his celebration at the top, throwing his hands in the air just like Rocky Balboa. Naturally, he wanted a picture with the Rocky statue, and he even flagged down another tourist so that both of the families could get in.

It made Paige feel good to see the way that Emily was hitting it off with her dad. She sat next to him on a few of the legs of the bus tour, and she kept pulling him by the elbow to point out different attractions as they walked through the city.

After lunch and a few more attractions, they headed back to Rosewood. Pam insisted on giving Paige's parents a home-cooked meal, although everyone was tired from all the walking and urged her just to order a pizza for dinner. Paige volunteered to help. She had been to the house often enough to know her way around Pam Fields' kitchen, and she enjoyed having a well-stocked pantry to work with, as opposed to the hit-or-miss fare back at the apartment. Pam refused Marlene's offers of help. "You're our guests! You relax!"

"I guess that makes you part of the family, Paige!" Emily quipped. Pam gave Paige a side-hug in agreement.

On the drive back to the apartment that night, Emily remarked, "You know, I really love your dad."

Paige smiled. "Yeah. He can be scary, sometimes. He's like this big, grouchy grizzly bear, but he always shows me his soft side."

"Really? Scary?"

"Really. Ask Pru. She used to be terrified of him when we were younger. To tell you the truth, I think she's still a little intimidated by him."

"I guess that explains why she and Hanna magically disappeared this weekend."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that were the reason!"

"But, seriously, your dad doesn't seem scary at all to me. He's actually really sweet."

Paige just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"What's that supposed to mean."

"As if you don't know." Paige paused. Emily really didn't get it. "My dad's like in love with you."

"Huh?"

"Seriously – he's like obsessed with you." Paige continued, mocking her dad's voice, "'How's Emily?' 'Are you treating Emily right?' 'Put Emily on the phone!' It's as if you're the daughter he never had."

Emily chuckled. "Well, maybe he'll get to have me as a daughter someday…" Paige's heart melted at the fact that Emily would even go there. "Because maybe he'll adopt me," Emily continued, killing the moment. Paige smashed her fist into her snarky girlfriend's shoulder.

On Sunday morning, they all headed to Pam and Wayne's church in Rosewood. It wasn't Paige and Emily's first time there, so they knew the boundaries. Still, there was something that seemed fitting about it all: Two families from different backgrounds coming together over a shared and familiar ritual. Both girls considered themselves spiritual persons, and they decided, while they were there, to celebrate the uplifting and the positive in the ceremony and let the rest roll away.

Sunday afternoon, they worshiped at the altar of the NFL. Pam and Wayne had invited a couple of neighbors over to watch the conference championships and gorge themselves on pizza and wings. Emily and Paige managed to sneak off for a few moments just to chill by themselves. Pam, and, eventually, Marlene stumbled upon them in their retreat. They ended up playing a few rounds of Uno, watching the games on the much smaller TV, in the less boisterous and much less competitive atmosphere of the living room.

On Monday morning, Emily and Paige drove out to Rosewood to take Paige's parents to the airport. This time, Nick didn't protest riding shotgun with his new pseudo-daughter. Paige was glad to have some time to catch up with her mom. All too soon, they were at the terminal exchanging good-by hugs.

Paige gave Emily a kiss before they got back into the car. "Thanks for being so great with my parents."

Emily kissed her back. "You say that as if it were a chore. Your parents are great, Paige. I loved spending this weekend with them."

"I'm glad that's how you feel. Family means a lot to me." With one more hug, they headed back to school.