My little brother is graduating high school back home which is a 10 hour drive from where I live. My mom has only meet my two year old twice and has never meet my 5 month old so I would feel badly not bringing the kids. At the same time I’m also very nervous to have my kids and myself around my mom. She has an undiagnosed untreated mental illness and she can get very very scary when having a manic episode. My husband will be unable to go with me to visit which makes me even more uneasy going. If my mom is in a decent mental state I can tolerate being around her but when she is having an episode she is so scary.

I want to go to support my brother but I do think he will understand me not coming if I decide not to. I’m so torn on what to do! What would you guys do?