Am I expecting too much from my introverted partner when it comes to family/friend events?
Hey everyone, looking for some outside perspective here. I'm (35F) and my partner is (32M). We've been together about 2.5 years.
Some background:
He recently met my parents for the first time (they live abroad). It took a LOT of convincing to get him to agree, but it actually went well despite the language barrier. I translated and used AI to help.
Then my friend's wedding came up (next June), and again, it was a struggle to get him to say yes. He eventually agreed and even said he's looking forward to it, so that felt like progress.
The current issue:
My parents invited us to join them on a trip to Greece, (including my kids) next year. My partner flat-out said no. His reason: he's introverted and doesn't want me to spend the whole time translating instead of enjoying time with my family. I told him I don't mind translating at all, but he's still not budging.
I offered to cancel the wedding trip and go to Greece instead if the wedding would be too overwhelming for him, but he said I'm changing agreed plans and he still doesn't want to do Greece.
Where I'm at:
Every time I try to include him in something with my family or friends, it feels like pulling teeth. He says he's totally fine traveling with just me, but I'm starting to feel like he doesn't actually want to merge our lives, just keep things in our "bubble."
Also worth noting: his parents don't even know about me, which I think is due to cultural/religious reasons (he's Muslim, I'm not religious).
So, am I expecting too much here? Or is this a sign of a deeper mismatch in how we see our future?
Would really appreciate any honest thoughts. Thanks