Planning to control my reaction

So, my older brother is coming to town to see my mom. I was terrified of him as a child. He is 14 years older, and rarely comes to the East coast.

I decided to do the following: make one day available this coming weekend for family stuff, and making plans to be out of town for the other day. The family day I am going to suggest a cookout, picnic, and since I usually cook for things, I will be in charge of the situation. Perhaps even hold it here, take out family pictures, and be in charge of not only the surroundings but the agenda.

This might backfire, but I really cannot deal with another anxiety-driven family blow-up right now.

My upped effexor has really helped.

Thanks, Mags. I have given this a lot of thought. I don't think brother is malicious, but there is a lot buried and right now is not the time to dig it up. We came from different families, in most ways. The age difference alone makes it difficult.

Yes, I do. Even now, on this restrictive diet, I enjoy coming up with recipes that are fulfilling, taste-wise. Everyone else would rather just go out to eat. LOL- through sheer exhaustion, usually.

Brother hasn't been east in fifteen years or more. Mom is 85 and fairly stable, right now, but he wants to see her. It is hard to believe he is almost 60! He had a hard time with our father and grew up in a less-enlightened time (50s, early 60s). I would suspect autism spectrum. He was an angry teenager when I remember him most.

A spanner in the works. Hopefully it will turn out okay. BF made our reservations for out of town for Sunday, after I had made the picnic plans for Sunday. Grrrr. Just called the family and asked if Saturday would be okay. Now I am very stressed and anxious about this. Trying just to breathe deeply and open my jaw, and not let it overly affect me.

Just made some sandwich rolls out of farmer's cheese and nut flour. We'll see how they work. They smell good. I am doing a selected carb diet for Crohns disease, so no grains, no sugars, no dairy, no soy.