** Part 1 / 3 **

My family is on vacation in Puerto Rico. Normally, I find dealing with my divorced father extremely difficult. It's probably because he causes me to recess into the way I thought and behaved when I grew up around him. In particular, I have a difficult time with him because he is full of the emotional immaturity and atroshishly weak inner and outer game that I have spent years shedding.

We decide to go to a touristy event that includes free food and drinks in a boat cruise around the island. My dad is his useful quiet, antisocial self; I had planned on deciding that vacation was to enjoy with him and joining him in his quiet introversion. But, the excitement of booze and denseley packed group of people in chipper/vacationy-moods proved too much. Quickly, I started chatting up the folks sitting in neighboring spots. Wasn't super easy - but that's how things always go early on (I need to get warmed up, they need to get warmed up, etc).

Soon after, my dad and I get in line for the buffet. Line has always been a surprisingly good place to meet people. We end up meeting this very friendly, cool, pretty, and single middle-aged-single-mother. Naturally, I send a very flirtatious/fun vibe. I have no interest in a cougar especially given the circumstances, but I am more than happy to introduce her to my dad. Naturally, he has zero (or negative?) game and flounders. I keep the conversation fun/flirty and eventually invite them to sit with us.

I'm trying to toss fuel on the conversation fire, as I (and she) grow uninterested with normal conversation. I try to help my dad out a bit, but really, game is one of those things that you need to put the agonizingly huge amount of time into yourself. Typically I don't drink much, but being in my particular predicament of "family vacation", I begin pounding the drinks.

There's music on the cruise and the woman asks me to dance, I suggest she dances with my father and she says "oh, he doesn't seem like much fun". Sigh, I think that my dad needs to stop being such a miserable person, grow up, and improve himself. All well. I change the topic, talk some more. Eventually she grabs me, we dance, I hand her off to my dad and go dance with a group of girls more my age on another section of the boat. They're fun, but a bit old still (I'm in my early 20s ... why do I keep meeting 28 year olds!).

On a normal vacation with my family, we'd probably go back to the hotel or maybe walk around for a few minutes, realize we're too shy/in our heads/self conscious to partake in the fun everyone else is having before heading back to the hotel. I, however, no longer behave this way and that night was different.