Family obligations can sometimes clash if you have to choose which one to attend to.

In this story, a man was torn between attending his late cousin’s white coat ceremony tribute and his nephew’s birthday party.

While he felt strongly about honoring his cousin and supporting his grieving aunt and uncle, his immediate family criticized his decision.

Now, he is left wondering if prioritizing one meaningful event over another makes him selfish.

If you were in his shoes, which would you choose? Read the full story below to find out more…

AITAH for attending my deceased cousins white coat ceremony over my nephews birthday party?

My cousin tragically passed away in a car accident back in January of this year.

He was working on obtaining his Doctorate in Physical Therapy.

His school is doing a piece for him at their white coat ceremony.

My uncle will be accepting his coat on his behalf.

This man decided not to attend his nephew’s birthday party.

On the same day is my nephew’s 4th birthday party.

I have told my brother and sister-in-law that I would not be attending the party.

This is because of the white coat ceremony.

I have been receiving negative feedback from them and my parents.

They say I should not be missing out on my nephew’s birthday.

And it is selfish to miss immediate family events.

They wouldn’t accept his reasons.

I tried to explain my reasoning.

There are going to be other birthdays for my nephew.

This is one of the last events where we can celebrate my cousin.

He is my mom’s godson, mind you.

It will hopefully give our family some sort of closure after this awful situation.

He was very close to his cousin and wanted to celebrate him for the last time.

I feel crazy for looking to justify this. I was very close with my cousin.

We were always glued at the hip as kids.

We grew a great relationship as we got older.

I also have a great relationship with my aunt and uncle.

I have grown way closer to them in my adult years.

This is compared to my relationship with my brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and parents.

Now, he feels like they’re not respecting his wishes.

It is unfortunate this has come to be this way.

I feel like they are not being very sympathetic toward my feelings about this.

AITA?

He’s right, though. There will always be birthday parties you can attend, but a farewell ceremony for someone who has passed away can only happen once.

Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.

This person sides with OP.

Yes, indeed!

This user makes a valid point.

This one makes sense, too.

Finally, short and simple.

You can’t be in two places at once, but people will still expect you to try anyway.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about siblings who treat every social outing like a weird competition.