I lived and worked in the Twin Cities until 3 years ago...and was there visiting 2 weeks ago. I'm 52. My sis lives outside LA and I've visited her frequently. Here goes. All the buildings in downtown Minneapolis are connected by second floor skyways. You never have to go outside unless you want to. You'll be able to get from your hotel to the convention center without ever breathing real, honest to god fresh air. So, for your business meeting, dress for indoors. All corporate offices were business casual until about 3 years ago but then Target went back to regular business attire because young women took business casual to new degrees of beach-type wear. If you go out and about into the real air, have layers - the jacket would be good but have a light sweater to wear in addition to a top, just in case. A compact umbrella is a good suggestion. My personal practice when living there was to never be able to wear shorts/go bare legged in the evening except between June 10 and Labor Day because I got cold. Nice jeans are fine for shopping and with nice shoes (not rattie tennies) you'll be fine in most restaurants. However, for the fanciest restaurants, good slacks/skirts are fine. Minnesota is more casual, in general, than So. Cal. due to the general outdoors approach to life. Styles are comparable to S. Cal, but for middle aged women, you won't be out of place if you're not dressed like a teenager (i.e. you choose to cover your body parts!). My college is in N. Indiana and for our reunions, women wear nice dresses for the formal dinner, shorts/jeans/nice slacks during the day - pretty much anything goes for daytime. I think you'll find that the teachers are happy to have a chance to dress up so a snazzy black dress would work. Just be comfortable.

Can you talk to your mother about planning for the future -- more as a just in case than suggesting that she needs help now? In my view, everyone should have at least one other person listed that doctors can talk to. Even better would be to add a medical power of attorney that at least gived the named person the ability to make decisions -- decisions which can be as general or as limited as necessary. Do you belong to Costco? Their website has a computer program called WIll Maker. I used it to prepare some documents for my dad (he wound up not using them) and had it available when a friend's mother would up in the hospital needing surgery and the doctors were telling my friend there was a better than 50% chance her mom wouldn't make it. If her mom had difficulties or didn't make it, my friend would be in a terrible position. You don't want to go there. Both my mom and MIL had Alzheimer's and my dad had another form of dementia caused by heart issues. Don't count on being able to get conservatorship until you are past the point where your mom is likely to have had significant problems, injuries or losses. Besides that, taking your mom to court to take away her control and her dignity is not something you or she really want to have happen. I would strongly encourage you to talk with her while she is still competent and get her to at least list you and/or your brother on the medical information release forms so the doctors have someone they can talk to if she should fall or be in an accident. We all need that. If you can get a power of attorney, that would be much better. The power of attorney can be a way to approach discussion of end of life choices too. It will really help both of you if you know what kind of care she wants and her preferences both in terms of medical treatment and in terms of what happens with her property, a funeral, etc. These are hard things to deal with, but time is slipping away from you and you don't know how much time you have until your mom may not be able to help with these things and you are forced into the nightmare of taking away her control and trying to guess what she would want. If you know what she wants, you have a basis for making the difficult decisions. I cannot overstate how important that is. I lost my parents less than 5 months apart. That was difficult enough, but at least we all knew there was a plan for how to deal with all the unplanned things that kept coming at us. I know my dad feared that and wanted to stay in control, but in the end it as especially reassuring to him that I knew and he then saw me honoring his wishes and protecting them. Please try. For both of you.

I want to add something..the harshest environment, to me. was actually pre-school. So that was the place for building resilience Teachers and especially nannies were mostly very strict ranging to downright mean and abusive, I understands they were overworked and underpaid, but no warmth whatsoever..punishments could be very humiliating, or constant threats of humiliating punishments..cruel remarks.. I mean very cruel. They got physically abusive too sometimes, with problematic kids. I was compliant, bright, and useful-in a sense that I knew how to read very early, so they'd often tell me to read aloud when them themselves were tired. I liked reading-but I didn't like being singled out. Sometimes teachers from other classrooms were borrowing me to read there. My Mom was righfully very much against it, and asked them not to, but they didn't listen. Now I had a huge minus. I was a textbook for Celiac disease but nobody knew it back then..I would be throwing up there. A lot. sometimes up to three times per day. Doctors said "Nerves". Nerves my whatever, but it was repulsive for everyone-and then of course it was nerves too. I was very ashamed but it was beyond my control. I knew though I have to be there every single day from 7 to 6, because such is life, I never complained. It got better(the throwing up) by the time I was 6(different system..we started school at 7 then, and last year in pre school was like kindergarden here. Then they changed it) They had some strange idea that food h a s to be eaten and finished and plate clean no matter what. Me and some other skinny girl(I was, too, small and skinny, but she was like half of me..) often couldn't finish it and nannies were mad at us so they'd tell us nasty things about us, our parents..we were 4 years old maybe? I stiil got it better than many others, like a boy who was too active and a handful in general..he also wetted his bed..they screamed at him horribly..one teacher punched him in the face. Hard. I'd make it shorter. When I went to first parent night in my daughter's pre-school, already in Israel, and realized nobody will humiliate her, or tell her nasty things, or threaten taking her naked around the school, or stand on a chair..in short that she woud be treated like one should treat others, especially kids, like she's not an annoying object, -I cried. I cried right there, not out loud of course, but tears were streaming down my cheeks-because she'd be treated as a human. The sheer realization of it made me cry. I've much to add, but my posts are too long, and I don't want to take too much space. Many years after, we had practice in another pre-school, also considered very good (mine was considered the best. Mind you. They were the best. LOL.)-and a lovely, shy quiet little girl didn't want to eat her supper..the teacher closed her nostrils so her mouth would open and started pouring that soup down her throat..the girl was sobbing and choking..we were 13, we looked at it helplessly-we were 13 year olds sent to practice. and teacher was AN ADULT..

~~~ I don't think you can assume the country has become lax because of a parking lot with cars. I go out regularly to grocery, hardware, drug store, hair salon and once in a while to a regular store. I've never encountered any kind of crowds, everyone is wearing a mask and everyone is keeping their distance.~~~ I hate disagreeing but that's being lax. Very lax. From the CDC about running essential errands when everyone is wearing a mask. Disinfect the shopping cart, use disinfecting wipes if available. Do not touch your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands. Only touch products that you plan to purchase, if possible. We all touch our nose and eyes so many times a day we don't even notice we're doing it. Who touched the apple before you picked it up? Can you imagine how many fresh germs are on the door you open, or the products you might buy? Does your hairdresser stand right over your head? I've lost count how many times I've read or heard someone say, "He/she had no idea how they caught Covid because they always wore a mask." And then the person died. Joanie, scoot over, I rarely leave the house except to go to a drivce through maybe twice a month for something. I do the ordering of groceries online and DH picks them up and gets to stay in the car while the worker load the food. Other than missing my family, I kind of like being home, but I'm a homebody by nature and need my alone time to exist.