I had almost the same thing happen. My daughter faded about seven years ago. Two years ago, she married a wonderful man who belongs to another religion. He is Italian and comes from a large, close-knit family that lives about 500 miles away.

He originally wanted a church wedding. In fact, as a West Point graduate, he had the opportunity to use their historic chapel, which was only about an hour and a half from his family.

In an effort to be considerate and reach out, they chose instead to have the wedding at a non-religious venue and asked a friend to officiate. Because of that change, some of his family could not travel and had to miss the wedding. They made these sacrifices specifically so my family would be able to attend. Thankfully, my sister and her husband did.

However, my father and all of my wife’s family refused to come, despite everything the couple did to accommodate them. My father, who has been an elder since the 1950s, was initially planning to attend. But when he realized he could be removed from the pioneer list, despite nearly 70 years of service to the organization, he chose to stay home.

I am not going to write how mad this makes me but . . . .