Asking Eric: My sister hasn’t visited me in over 10 years

Dear Eric: I am the oldest of two sisters: the City Mouse and the Country Mouse. The City Mouse has not visited the Country Mouse (me) for more than 10 years. The trip to see me involves a half day of train travel, pick up at the station, her own room/TV and access to her nieces and nephews, plus that clean country air.

I fear I will never see the City Mouse again because of impending health issues. When I, nicknamed the Bully, approached the City Mouse, she replied with why can’t I visit her? Any ideas? Has our sisterhood been abandoned?

—Country Mouse

Dear Country Mouse: Forgive me for sounding too much like the city mouse, but why can’t you visit her? You write that the health issues are impending, and I understand there may be preparations you need to do beforehand, but if you’re currently able and want to see her, a visit may be a good form of self-care.

The nickname “The Bully” is worrisome, though. I don’t see bullying here, but this is only a slice of your relationship. If there are other tensions that might be discouraging your sister from visiting, you should bring those up and talk them through to clear the path for a more productive conversation on visits.

Dear Eric: I enjoyed your response to “Hobby Help” who was wondering what to do with completed craft projects. Your ideas were novel and creative.

I had an additional idea that perhaps Hobby Helper could contact nursing homes, assisted-living centers or memory care providers in the community.

I recently discovered while I was selecting giving tree items for a local assisted-living community that several residents requested decorations. I have been told that some facilities dedicated to memory care utilize seasonal decorations to assist with orientation to time of year for residents; perhaps any donated seasonal crafts would be useful for that as well.

—Another Idea

Dear Idea: Donating completed craft projects is a great idea. And I love that you mentioned contacting the nursing homes first so that the letter writer can ensure they are actually in a position to accept donations. This way the letter writer can ensure the donation is more likely to get used and bring other people joy.

(Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at eric@askingeric.com or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.)