I had four days left before moving abroad. My family wanted one of them spent driving six hours overnight for someone else’s mistake.
I graduated in May with one month left at home before flying out for a two year contract abroad. Four days before my flight, my aunt asked if I could pick up her brother in law from the airport, three hours away, landing at 4am, because he’d booked the wrong day and didn’t want to ask his job for time off to fix it.
The plan meant six hours of driving on one of my last mornings ever in that house.
I said no. Told her I had packing left and a dinner already planned with my grandmother I wasn’t rescheduling.
My cousin called annoyed, saying I was being dramatic since I had “nothing but free time anyway.” I reminded her having no job doesn’t mean having no plans. She didn’t have a response, just repeated it would be “so easy” for me.
I didn’t go. My aunt drove herself, tired but fine. I had that dinner instead, and my grandmother ended up telling stories about her own move overseas decades ago, stories I never would’ve heard otherwise
I left four days later, exactly on schedule.
Was I wrong for protecting the little time I had left, or selfish for saying no when I “technically” had nothing else going on?