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Dear Stephen,

I’ve been invited to my cousin-in-law’s wedding and I do not want to go, but can’t find a way to get out. My husband is deceased and I love his family, but while this cousin and his fiancée have been authentically kind in their way, they can be naive and once insulted me deeply.

The year my husband died, I went to an in-law family gathering on the other coast. The gathering was wonderful!…