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You might have figured out by now that my sister is...not great with the planning. When she's on vacation, it's very much whatever, whenever, where the mood takes her. And now I'm finding out Bro isn't all that different. That's fine to a degree but honestly, some things MUST be planned in advance.

Sis' son graduates from UNC's law school two weeks from today. TWO WEEKS. I mentioned before that Dad let me know pretty late that he wasn't going so I was scrambling to form my own plan. I texted Bro to see if we could ride down together because I knew he wasn't planning on going to the big weeklong island soiree (5 hours from where the graduation will take place). He said he was planning on leaving the Thursday before, maybe at noon, maybe at 1:30, as he'll be teaching for part of the day, and coming back Saturday. I was actually hoping to maybe go somewhere Saturday (not THE beach on the island where everyone else will be but at least A beach somewhere on the Carolina coast). But OK, whatever. I wasn't really looking forward to going down with him because as I said, he's...not the best driver. And I knew he wouldn't want to take any side trips at ALL (there's a couple stores in Chapel Hill I want to check out at some point while we're in town for the graduation).

A little bit later, Bro says his daughter is going too. First she wasn't going to go, then she was. Now there would be three in the car, and Bro already said he wasn't cleaning out his trunk because he has gardening stuff in it (he landscapes in the summer). I'm thinking that sounds like a crowded vehicle, so I ask my good church friend to go with as a birthday adventure for her. She's thrilled and immediately said yes.

That was a couple days ago. I've been doing research on where to stay--places are filling up fast and the closer we get to the date, the more hotels are charging. The ones near UNC know there's a graduation so of course they hiked their prices. I've also been busy taking care of a neighbor's house...OK, really I'm just picking up the mail and making sure the house is still standing...and trying to get ready for this weekend's getaway. My plan was to pick places and make reservations today...

And just a little bit ago, Sis sends me an angry-ish e-mail. Now Niece is NOT going and Bro texted Sis to ask for hotel recs for him and me. Oops. I'd not gotten around to letting Bro know about my change of plans. My bad. But neither did he let me know about Niece's change of plans. Sis was all "Communication is IMPORTANT!". So I, admittedly a bit unkindly, texted her and said I'd been busy and had not gotten around to texting Bro. SHE then said all I had to do was text Bro , and we're ALL busy, and my reply to her was "defensive and snippy" and "please don't come at me like that".

Like what? I honestly don't think I "came at her"; if anything, I came at my brother's family for constantly changing plans. But I apologized--I truly don't want to add to any of her stress as she juggles arrangements for numerous people for both the graduation and the gathering at the island the week after--but at the same time, her "communication is important!" made ME defensive, plus it was hypocritical coming from Miss "Plans change all the time". Though I guess to be fair, she at least texts me...sometimes...when she and her hubby are up here and instead of us meeting for breakfast, she decides to go with hubby to a coffeehouse without me and then text me afterwards, as *I* was waiting to hear what we were doing and about to gnaw off my own leg because I was so hungry.

I actually just deleted something else Sis texted that I really wanted to react to...but it sounded a bit mean. Trying hard to take the high road here...

I frequently thank both my bff and my gcf for a) being easygoing, go with the flow kind of folks (as am I) but also b) knowing how to make a plan that doesn't involve 87 last minute texts and then sticking to it.

Whew...thanks for letting me get this off my chest!