This TIFU happened around 23 years ago.

My Dad was adopted when he was 8 years old. He never wanted anything to do with his biolgical family, for his own reasons. However, he always knew there would be a day when I was old enough that I would want to meet them. When I was around 15-16, I approached him, asking permission to reach out to them. He told me that he had expected me to ask one day and went to retrieve an envolope he had put away, containing his biological Mother and Father's name and last known address. He let me know that I was free to reach out but he insisted that he didn't wish to be involved.

They had not heard anything of my Dad in around 30 or so years and went crazy with excitement when I rang and they realised that my Dad was not only alive and well, but also had a son who was on the phone and asking to meet. We arranged to meet at a pub in the city they lived in, which was only a couple hours drive from where I lived with my Mum and Dad at the time. I caught the train there the following week.

Something else which is important to the story is that I have ADHD. For those who do not know, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder simply means that sometimes I struggle to focus on one activitly for long periods of time before getting bored or distracted. My case is not serve at all, however, I was diagnosed with it as a youngster.

When I finally met the family at the pub, I walked in expecting to be greated by two people and was instead greeted by 10-11 people. A few Cousins Uncles & Aunties and my Dad's biological parents.

I sat on a table, with my back to the window of the pub and they all kinda formed a semi-circle around the table and me. They seemed fasinated that I existed and you could tell that this was a massive thing for them. My Dad was the eldest child and he had 7 younger Brothers and Sisters who had always wondered about there long lost brother, who most of them could not remember. They asked me question after question about my Dad, my family and everything else you would expect.

I noticed many similarites in the way they spoke and the way my Dad, Brother and Sister spoke. They also had such simialr features to my Dad and my siblings and me, which was so strange to see for the first time ever. I found out that many of them played the same sports I played, were into the same things my Dad was, such as really old action comic books, music and many, many other things.

I'm mixed race, half black, half white. My Dad was adopted by a white family in a very whilte town. My Dad was one of the only black people I knew. I often hated being mixed raced, and being different from everyone else at school. Suddenly being surrounded by a whole new family that looked the same as my Dad, was such a surreal feeling. Having only ever grown up with my Mum's side of the family, it was so exciting to connect to this group of warm, welcoming and excited people, who were kinda strangers but yet so, so familiiar.

At one point I thought I would ask whether any of them also had ADHD, as it would make total sense that at least one of them could have (as I believed that it was hereditary at the time), and maybe I could finally connect with another person with the condition and maybe learn how they deal with it and how it affects them as an adult.

When I asked if anyone else had it, they all just looked stumped and asked what is was, having never heard of it before. I started explaining, slightly dissapointed that non of the 10 or so of them had even heard of it. I said something along the lines of:

"Well, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a mental condition, normally starting in childhood and often continuing in into later life, that is characterized by persistent difficulty in maintaining attention and concentration. As well as inpulsive behavour and often being over hyperactive..."

(These wouldn't not have been my exact words back then, I have just copy/pasted the meaning from goggle, however, I would have said something similar at the time they would have been along those line)

Halfway through explaining, I had the best idea I had ever had, to show my new family how funny I was. I thought that now would be the perfect time to purposely get distracted, mid-sentence and go off into a completley different story, showcasing the ADHD symtoms in action, in a way that was obviously a joke for comedic purposes. How funny they would all find it having just listened to the conditions :-)

So I continued...

"...ADHD is something I've lived with all my life, although I very rarely get distracted anymore, I find that a trick to always ensure that I stay on focus is to constantaly...

OH WOWWWWWW!

LOOK AT THIS BEER MAT!

It's both blue AND green!

I've never seen a blue and green beer mat before!

HOW AMAZING!

I must go home and tell my brother and sister about it.

I GENUINELY CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

A blue and green beer mat! WOW. No way. Would you believe it?

BLUE and GREEEEEEEEEEN!"

Remembering the hyperactive part of the condition, I held the beer mat in the air and started to jump up and down saying, "I've got a blue and green beer mat! I've got a blue and green beer mat!

Than I sat back on my seat, with a huge smile on my face, in preperation for the laughter and clapping that was about to come.

I looked at everyone, but instead of rolling on the floor in stiches, they just looked really confussed and concerned and stared at me in total silence

I quickly realised that non of all 10-11 of them understood my joke or connected my sudden outburst and love for a soggy blue and green beer mat with the topic I had just been discussing.

I was still young at the time so I didn't really have the confidence to explain that what I had just done was a joke, based on the subject of ADHD, that what I had just done was CLEARLY an over exaggerated example of all the symtons that I had been explaining literally seconds before. Plus I was started to doubt whether they would even understand had I even tried to explain. Instead I just continued to hold the big smile on my face, even though I wanted to cry while they just looked at me very confussed. I really didn't know what else to do. I couldn't think of what to say so I just sat there smiling.

I was so embarassed. It was my first time meeting these people. I had taken ages to choose the right clothes, prepare what I would say to present myself and represent my Father in the best way possilbe and I had just let myself down. I realised that my smile was going on for way to long but remember thinking that if I suddenly stopped smiling then I would look even more crazy.

Eventually one of my Aunties kindly asked for me to share the names and ages of my Brother and Sister, to which other members of the family nodded in a way to show that they were also keen to know this information. So I told them my siblings names and we just continued on talking like nothing had happened.

Probably the most uncomfortable feeling at had ever had up to that point of my life. Although we stay in touch every so often. I never ended up building a big bond with any of them after the inital year or two. I always wonder wheher they kept their distance after thinking that I wasn't right in the head.

Have any of you got any similar stories of times jokes just didn't go the way you expected them to?

TL;DR I tried to do a joke in front of my family members who I had only met half and hour before. They didn't get it and I ended up making myself look like a total weirdo