off topic but really need advice from others (a little long sorry)
You have nothing to feel guilty for. Your body made you take that time. It is possible, had you gone to the graduation, you might have found yourself back in the hospital
on 6/11/11 5:39 pm
Is the niece who said your daughter wasn't invited the grad girl's sister? It sounds like there are some drama queens in that family. Not atypical for teen-age girls, yet it does sound that way to me. I guess when you're 18, high school graduation is the most important event in your life, so I do see how she may have been super excited and proud to be the center of attention. She may also think that a trip to the ER is no big deal. I doubt she's ever experienced how exhausting that can be, just from the nerves or the adrenaline crash. It's regrettable, but fairly understandable to an adult.
As for getting your nails done, that's not exactly a strenuous activity. You're just sitting there, right? That doesn't sound like you were out whooping up after committing the sin of not going to graduation. Which leaves us with the fair... That could be exhausting with all the walking and the heat. But what about your daughter? She was probably hurt at being excluded & who likes to see their kid hurt. You weren't planning on going to the fair until your daughter wasn't invited, right? As much as you love your niece, your daughter has to come first.
My advice is to stay out of your niece's drama as much as possible. You can say you're sorry you missed it, but I wouldn't do much more than that. Part of growing up is to realize that one is not the center of the universe.
"Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us." Stephen Covey
Don't litter! Spay or neuter your pet
on 6/12/11 9:54 am
I went to my own graduation ceremonies ---- those were no fun.
Now, I give a generous gift, attend the party and wish the graduate well.
Your niece will get over it -- you were ill. It would have been much worse to go to the graduation, and pass out there and make a spectacle of yourself. She would have been mortified.
Hey there,
First of all, you need to understand that you did absolutely nothing wrong.
At the time of the graduation you were deathly ill. This was not your fault. The next day, you felt a little better so you ventured out and had your nails done. And the day after that, you ventured a little further because you were feeling better with each passing day. Stepping away from the guilt trip that is being laid on you, does this actually sound like you did anything wrong?
Here's what this "old lady" has learned in life that has really helped me, and that is people are going to think what they're going to think no matter what the truth is because we each have our own version of the truth.
For example, I have a younger sister who will accuse me of things that have absolutely no basis in truth whatsoever, but because it's her truth, based upon how she views the world, I am always guilty of whatever she thinks. It's like she has a thought, and because she does, it's suddenly reality even though she has no evidence to support the thought.
Anyhow, I have discovered that anyone *****sorts to emotional blackmail, also known as guilt trips, really does not need to be hanging out in my life. I can be polite to them when in their presence, but I do not go out of my way to engage them because they are poison.
For your sister and niece to be guilting you is simply wrong, and it speaks of a tremendous lack of character as well as a true sense of caring on their parts about you...
As people who will likely profess to "love you," the first thing they should have been concerned about was your health, not about your whereabouts at graduation when they knew you were so sick.
Shame on them...