Someone did say moving on as in seeing people if she needs company, she sees her friends so that’s something. We all have to function on don’t we?
Precisely, QuackPorridgeBacon.
I agree with your entire post.
Presumably her friends will call in to see her, phone her, invite her around to have a cuppa, maybe go out to see something interesting. It is summer. The weather is nice. Many of her friends may also be widows and they know the ropes.
That is what people do.
At least that is what they do where I grew up and where I live now.
I have a feeling RainySeptember was referring to me with her 'reading between the lines'. She seems to have been taken aback by strenuous disagreement and evidence of more insight into family dynamics, depression, anxiety, etc. than she possesses.
Having read the available information and opinions however I am still of the opinion that the simplest interpretation is the right one : he had a long holiday planned before his dad died and doesn't want to compromise on it. RainySeptember
There have been several exhausting months of nursing a sick husband on the part of the DM, and maybe the brother who lives closer and apparently has a loving relationship with his mother (according to the OP) and had a loving relationship with his late father (he is grieving, according to the OP) has been shouldering part of that burden. To believe he spent that time of his father's last illness planning a long family holiday seems to me to be a bit of a leap that is not warranted by anything that has been posted.
In actual fact, if you were paying attention to the details the OP posted, RainySeptember, it was the sister who had a holiday abroad planned (for May) despite the fact that her dad was gravely ill to the point where her mother was worn out nursing him. This is the holiday she cancelled - it would have been right around the time of the death if my maths is right so she doesn't get any medals for that.
We hear nothing from the friend of the sister's part in nursing the father or supporting the mother during his illness. The sister may have been able to contribute during this time, but given her lack of time off from work and the distance away it is unlikely that she would have been able to do much in practical terms whereas someone living closer and with teachers' hours some days (I appreciate that many teachers put in long hours after school is over) the brother - and his wife - may have been able to do more than she did.
The response to the sister's request was no, he and his wife are knackered after a school year and he's also had to cope with losing his dad so they really need these few weeks away 'as a family'.
Note 1 - it's 'he and his wife'.
The wife is completely written out of the OP's report from her friend apart from this one mention, but I would bet the farm that the wife has feelings on the issue of the family regrouping after the months of illness when presumably the brother, her husband, had a good deal of his time taken up with his mother and father. Their children are 9, 11, and 13, so full on with homework, activities, friends, feeding and general upkeep, and then there is the self absorption of early teens and preteens to deal with.
Note 2 - he is feeling the strain.
No doubt the students will not have taken long to return to their normal behaviour soon after he returned from the funeral (assuming they cut him any slack at all at the time). Teaching is stressful, and the end of term is even moreso.
Add to that the long illness and death of a parent and I think only the most obtuse (and in the case of the OP the most willing to swallow a hostile narrative whole) would still insist that the brother and his wife are out of order here.