A little background... My father married a woman who has 3 brothers. I actively see 2 of these brothers, have relationships with their families, see them at holidays, yadda yadda yadda. Love these guys better than my blood relatives
The third brother lives somewhere in California, and is something of the family "black sheep." (He is a rocket scientist. No. Seriously, he works for NASA.) But from what I've been told he's... odd. But whatever. So StepMom asks that I send him an invitation, since all her other brothers are invited, that I include her Odd Brother. "He won't come, but please send him one anyway." I am somewhat opposed to doing this at all, but to make all my parents happy, I usually try to honor their wishes. Even though I've never met the guy. Even though he doesn't attend family functions, I sent him an invite. Today I get a sweet note in the mail from Odd Brother. It says "Dear Jennifer, I hope my wife and I will be able to meet you and Matt someday. Sorry we can't make the wedding. Our hopes and prayers be with you. Love, (insert name)" So my immediate reaction was "Ah, that's so nice!" Then I realize he sent us a check for $25. I totally feel guilty for sending him an invite now! He probably just thinks I sent an invite to get a gift/money, and that's SO NOT who I am!! Tell me I'm overthinking this, please... b/c now I'm faced with the dilemna of cashing the check ASAP (so as to not keep his account in limbo for another month +) or does that look greedy and tacky? Should I wait till after the wedding? What would you do??? (wow, that was long.... )