It was warmer today--I was able to wear my capri pants, though it was just a titch cool. This is very good news, because I found myself weighing the costs of buying a new pair of long pants while down here vs. having Matt FedEx me a pair of my jeans and a sweater. Tomorrow (Thursday) is supposed to be even warmer, thank goodness.

As far as my angst about the family aspects of my little brother's upcoming wedding goes, I want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who responded with such encouragement. I am feeling stronger and yet more peaceful about it. A good friend of mine, after reading my post, gave me an excellent mental exercise to work on: after pointing out that I am a control freak (so true), she suggested I do a visualization of a thermometer, and imagine that it's labeled "Control." I am to visualize watching that thermometer, currently right at its apex, dropping down toward the bottom of the bulb and, at the same time, feel myself releasing the need to control back out into the universe. I've been doing that a fair amount, and it's working very well. I may still have to do some serious breathing exercise leading up to walking in the door at the wedding (while visualizing, of course), but I know that I cannot control the way the day goes. I can control how I react to whatever may come up, but I certainly cannot control what other people do, think, or how they act. That just is.

So again, thank you all so much for reaching out to me like you did. The shared experiences and support helped me to realize that this situation is not the only scary/sad family thing in the universe (which seems like a colossal understatement, but sometimes it's easy to lose that perspective), which means that it can't possibly be the most important one, either. I appreciate your help very, very much.