I understand what you're experiencing, Sandy. When I was married, I always had a house full during the holidays. I've been divorced now for 12 years, both of my parents have passed on and all of my siblings, too, except for one sister who lives in PA but you'd think she lives in outer Mongolia the way she talks about the long (3 hour) drive here. She's a widow, has no pets, and it would be easy for her to drive here, even take the Greyhound but she won't do it. I can't ask my cat sitter to watch the Fur Posse during the holidays because that's a real imposition and I'm also afraid to leave Pidgelet. My son lives across the country and this is the first Thanksgiving in 11 years that he'll be home and yet I still can't get her to come. I've always made it a practice to invite those who have nowhere to go during the holidays but even those people have either moved or passed on. For some reason, I don't get invitations, even though I've entertained others all my life. So it looks like this year it'll be my son and me. I shudder to think how lonely it would be if he wasn't coming home. Yours is a special situation due to your dad's illness and so all I can do is offer my understanding and prayers and remind you that we're never truly alone. Keep the faythe.