Was she wrong to reject his invitation to the funeral? 

Funerals are a stressful time. You have to be focused on planning this huge event that appropriately honors the life of your loved one while trying to distract yourself from the grief that’s currently eating you alive. I have no idea how people can get through funeral speeches and songs without bursting into tears immediately. It’s such a huge burden to bear, and I admire anyone who can do it, whether they cry through the whole process or hold it together when people are around. 

The stress of funeral planning can lead to family fighting. There are so many trivial things to fight over for a funeral. Aunt June ordered the wrong type of flowers, and now we’re out $300 for an unsightly arrangement. The adult children of the deceased disagree on whether to have a closed or open casket. One of the cousins doesn’t want to attend the funeral, and his brothers and sisters are yelling at him, pressuring him to attend against his will. It’s very common for grief to seep into all your relationships. Your grief might make it difficult to forgive those around you for letting you down. 

The dad in this story wanted his daughter and granddaughter to attend his wife’s mother’s funeral. He didn’t want them to come to support him; he wanted them to support his wife emotionally. When his daughter told him that they couldn’t come because her 5-year-old had a dance recital, he offered to pay for her to come without her daughter, but she had already made up her mind. Now she’s wondering whether or not she did the right thing.