My DS (in her early 60s and my only sibling) has been living with her partner for 14 years. After a toxic divorce from her first husband she said she'd never marry again. Yesterday she invited me to attend her register office wedding, booked for mid-morning on a weekday in five weeks' time. She's invited my DP too.
My DS and I get on okay but have different views on some important issues and what we can safely talk about is limited. Over the years since our parents died we've drifted. We stay in touch with a monthly phone call and sometimes send a quick text or email update, but I wouldn't say we're close. She has a very quick temper and flares up easily so I feel as if I'm walking on eggshells around her a lot of the time.
DP and I have a week's leave booked the week of the wedding and have paid for a rental cottage in Cornwall. My DP (who has only met my sister a couple of times) has said a flat no thank you to the wedding invitation. DP says travelling down to Cornwall on the Saturday, driving from Cornwall to the Midlands (it will easily take six hours) and back again midweek, then driving home again on the Friday is too big an ask and I agree. I could do it on my own, travelling up the day before and booking a hotel. I've had a quick google of the rail fares and hotel costs and gulped, but it's my sister's wedding, isn't it?
Lockdown and Covid have made me more introverted than I was. And I've put on weight and gone grey in the last three years. Plus I'm already beginning to panic at the thought of trying to find something suitable to wear. I'm very much a jeans and walking boots woman and I'm out of the habit of dressing up. I also hate having my photo taken. But this isn't about me, is it? This is my DS's wedding. Much as I'd like to say no, I'm going to have to pull myself together and go, no matter the cost and inconvenience aren't I?