My husband will be 70 in January and I will be 70 in April next year. A few weeks ago, my Stepdaughter sent me a text to announce that she was taking her Dad to Carcassonne for his birthday, but it will probably be in the spring. Initially, I felt a bit upset because that will be around the time of my birthday and also Carcassonne had always been on our list of places to go together. I must point out that although she lives nearby, she never comes to see my husband and rarely replies to texts or phone calls from him. This upsets him very much, but he never stops trying. Anyway, after receiving this text, I replied to explain that although it was a nice idea, we were thinking of having a combined celebration for both our birthdays in the spring. She replied saying that she wish that she had never told me and would speak to her Dad, which so far she hasn't done. Since then, my two dear friends have said that they would love to take me away for my birthday. Although my husband and I hate being apart and much prefer to go places together, I thought that this may be a solution, so I contacted my Stepdaughter to tell her this. She replied to say that she doesn't think that she will bother now as it has all turned out so negative. I told her that now I have got used the idea and that my friends would like to know if and when she still plans to go and she just doesn't reply. This is supposed to be a surprise for my husband. I know that this probably sounds all about me, but over the years I have tried so hard to bring them together and find out what the problem is with her, but she refuses to have a conversation about it. If only she would pop round for a coffee, or arrange to meet up at times like Christmas, but she won't and so it seems so strange that she wants to take him away. If only she had asked me what I thought about it, we could have had a conversation and found a solution but because she just announced it, I was taken by surprise. If she won't answer the phone or reply to text messages or e-mails, I don't know what to do to make things better. Of course, with the pandemic, none of this may be happening!