@GMTplus7 wrote
True, but this “unwelcome social obligation” was supposed to be to celebrate her! I get (and have attended) many social events for other people where I was less than thrilled to be there, but it was the appropriate thing to do.
However, this was the kid’s day, and the parents took away her choice in how she wanted to celebrate that achievement. They took the achievement (graduating) and turned it into a punishment for her because they were insensitive to her needs.
@Massmomm really nailed it, and I agree.
My husband is an introvert, and doesn’t like to be the center of attention. He does, however, like to socialize occasionally. So one year for his 45th birthday we invited about 40 people over for his birthday-and we didn’t tell anyone the entire day that it was his birthday! It was a great day-everyone hanging out, enjoying a barbecue, chilling in the backyard, and my husband enjoyed that there was no particular focus on him, and he’d get to enjoy his friends without the pressure of presents, cake, etc. So it was his very merry unbirthday birthday! If there had a been a cake, 40 people singing at him, etc, he would have been stressed out and not enjoyed it.