That stinks to feel that you could disappoint a loved one, who may not be as understanding as we would hope, in this particular the situation. However given your closeness, and the ability to overlook differences of opinion that you both have demonstrated in order to remain close despite your differing political views, there may be room for acceptance without hurt feelings.
What you wrote about the situation was straight forward and sincere. Perhaps a really nice gift to your brother and his family, along with a sincere note/letter – thanking him for his invitation, emphasizing your sincere gratitude to him as a brother and a friend, and his family, and extending your well-wishes to his family for a most excellent Thanksgiving. And perhaps follow that up with some more than usual phone calls, so that you can be open to hear him and you can cinch-up your closeness during this time.
My dear friend's husband (4 hours away) just went through chemo and radiation and people rallied around them to help. It was painful to not be able to be there for them. But, a dear friend helped me by saying,”you know, you can help in other ways.” And so I did. We are even maintaining our amped-up phone call schedule.
Wishing you all the best. |
