I don't know if everyone has this built-in system, but I have a warning system that goes off every time my family struggles. The system tells me "I must go to them! I must do what I can to help them!" A bit hard to do living from here though.
Yesterday I received a text from my sister-in-law telling me my brother was in a car accident. Nothing major; just minor car damage and the shock of it all as trauma. Bad road conditions & my brother lost control of the vehicle. Act of God situation; he was driving well, or the damage would have been worse.
My first instinct is to get the first flight from SAN to ORD out of here. I can take the kids for a few hours, help my sister-in-law clean the house, make a quick dinner for them; something to help reduce the stress of this unfortunate situation.
In reality, all I can really do is just be open in case they want to talk about it- which they don't even have time to do. Flying out there would be a nice gesture, but the cost and vacation time used in the process is not efficient. Those things would be much better applied to a Real visit, one where everyone is calm and less stressed to spend a full amount of time with me.
Doesn't help the urge go away. They'll be OK without me, but I still wish I could help in some way. This is one of those things that I'll never get used to.
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