My nephew is out of control.

aw, shit. Maybe it will settle down in a few days. Best of luck.

Hang in there (and vent here!). Even if it doesn't get better, figure you're racking up karma points.

And, more concretely, at least your nephew might grow up to be more open to travel and non-American cultures than his parents, because of this trip, even if it doesn't seem like he's engaging anything right now. I was talking to man who works as a tour guide in France, who had expatriated from England. He said he was so annoyed by the high-school age kids he led around, because the only things they seemed to care about were complaining about having to pay for the toilets and how weird the food was. He couldn't figure out why *none* of them was like he was, fascinated by the culture and the new things they were seeing.

Then he went back and looked at some of his travel journals from when he was in high school. They were filled with complaints about having to pay for toilets and how weird the food was.

(So there's hope, I meant to add!)

Thanks for the kind words... I'm just so bereft at the moment. Depression is an ugly thing, and it seems to taint everything around it.

I can't explain, really, other than to say that my brother is determined NOT to have any fun and my nephew has his mother wrapped around his little finger.

This was a bad idea.

I'm so sorry. What if you got your brother and his wife really drunk? Maybe it would loosen them up a bit? If not, we're here for you to vent to.