Well, I thought I would give an update to this. As I said, this has been the worst few months of my entire life BUT my brother is doing really good so that's a bonus. He's back to his old self and they have him on a medication.
On another note, I had been mentally preparing myself to spend Christmas up here alone. I moved here recently (from down south) and have been so busy with work that I haven't had a chance to make a lot of friends. It's ok, I know that takes time but I have been feeling quite bad about not being able to be there with my family. I could not afford the tickets I kept seeing on the airline websites. My mom and I have been looking almost every day for a couple of weeks. We've discussed megabus, Greyhound, trains, planes, automobiles (hah!) but nothing was financially feasible. So I started mentally preparing to just stay here alone.
It's been about a week and I told myself I was fine with it. I told myself it would be completely fine…regroup, get myself together.
Then today my mom found a ticket today for $222 and we split the cost of it. So I get to go home for Christmas and be with my family!! I didn't realize how much it upset me until I hit the button to finalize my purchase. I sat in my office and cried. I had no idea how much it meant to me to go home during the holidays but apparently it REALLY means the world to me.
I thought the folks on this site could understand, if anyone could.
Plus I'd like to hear more about what you're thankful for.