AITA for not letting my Uncle or my mother get anywhere near my Grandfather at my Aunt’s funeral?

March 10, 2026 was one of the hardest days for my entire family. We laid our Aunt (for the sake of this post lets call her Julie) to rest F(78) after a decade long battle with cancer. For context, my Aunt was diagnosed in the early 2000’s with breast cancer, she went into remission in 2010 (THANK YOU GOD FOR THAT). Fast forward to 2024 she falls in her kitchen, we get her to the ER where they admit her for the fall, after a series of tests she was diagnosed with Cirrhosis of the Liver caused by Chemo (that’s what the doctor told us). Aunt Julie was the most amazing human being on the planet, she was a nurse of 20 YEARS. Before that she was a paramedic for fifteen years. Didn’t matter who you were or your situation, if you needed help she was going to be there, even more so if you didn’t need the help because she just wanted to be there to watch you figure it out and to catch you if you fall (after she finished laughing first, mind you she never laughed at patients, it was only family she laughed at for falling but she absolutely picked you back up and did everything in her power to make you better). Now that I have that out of the way, my question is, AITA for not letting my uncle, M(54) we will call him Rodger and my mom F(55) we will call her Melody, get near my Grandfather M(73) we will call him Harrold at Aunt Julie’s funeral? For context on that, My uncle Rodger is my mother’s younger brother, both my mother and Uncle have been leaving and coming back since before I was even born. Every time they leave they would invent some kind of conflict that never actually happened as an excuse to leave. I F(31) was 5 years old when mom took me to my grandfather’s house, she told him she would be back after work to get me, no problem right? So why did she never come back to get me when her shift ended? Uncle Rodger stuck around for a few more months but shortly after my mom left, he had a disagreement with my grandfather over something stupid and then he too left, after a few years Uncle Rodger would come back into our lives and things would be good for a few months. However he would always find a reason to leave this went on for years. The reason I kept my Grandfather away from my uncle and mother at Aunt Julie’s funeral is because I have had to sit by for basically my entire life and watch my Uncle and my mother both gaslight the fuck out of Grandfather and I was not about to let them do it in a place where we are all grieving this extraordinary loss for the entire family. When we left my Grandfather turned to me and told me that I should not have done it as he is a grown man and did not need the help. I told him that I was not going to let my mom and uncle put him through even more stress and pain than what he is already going through. He raised me since I was five years old for the last 26 years he has protected me. It is my turn to protect and advocate for him. I apologize in advance if I stopped making sense somewhere this is extremely difficult.

12 thoughts on “AITA for not letting my Uncle or my mother get anywhere near my Grandfather at my Aunt’s funeral?”
  1. Just a question on who Aunt Julie was in relation. Was she your grandfather’s sister? She was about the same age. NTA for keeping your uncle and mother away from him, they both are narcissists and toxic.

    1. Aunt Julie was my grandfather’s oldest sister. She was the oldest out of five other siblings.

  2. NTA

    An event like a funeral is not the time for estranged relatives to mend fences. You did the right thing.

    Tell your Grandfather that if he still wants to talk to them, he is welcome to, though after he does, you would appreciate it, if he discussed any decisions with you before making them.

    He’s not an AH for wanting to talk to them either.

    Your mom and uncle clearly are.

  3. What you did was out of love. For that reason alone NTA. But keep in mind that your grandfather does not want you to behave in that manner in the future. Respect his choice. So sorry for your loss…and family issues. Good luck!

    1. Generally I try not to get involved because he can usually identify when they are gaslighting him but yesterday was a horrible day for all of us and he just let them go at him. At first I didn’t do anything just for that reason alone but when two full minutes passed and they were still going at him I couldn’t just stand there any longer. I had to get him away from them.

  4. NTA. A funeral is not the place for problematic family to showboat, so you absolutely did the right thing. The funeral was about your aunt, nobody else. Reassure your grandfather tha you just didn’t want there to be a spectacle on her day, but you will respect any wishes for him to engage with either of them as he pleases.

  5. TL:DR the mother and uncle tend to gaslight the grandfather so OP stopped them from going to him to avoid additional hardship.

    NTA, it was an emotional time for everyone so it’s okay that you didn’t want to risk even more conflict at the funeral. The mother and uncle can choose a different time to give their condolences.

  6. I just got to thinking about the entire thing after I got home and wondered if I should have handled in a different way. Generally speaking I try to not get involved simply because he can usually spot it immediately when they are gaslighting and when they are being genuine. I didn’t get loud, I didn’t get belligerent, I simply put myself between them and asked them to not do that during a time we are all hurting and to stop making the day we are there to remember our aunt as who she was to us all and to her community. Aunt Julie was the only evidence that I had growing up that angels really do exist because she was most definitely an angel on earth. She gave her entire life to nurture our family and strangers just a like. The only difference between family and not family is that when someone not family fell she did not laugh and say “Don’t do that again heifer”.

    1. In my defense, I was typing and crying at the same time usually better than that but right now I’m kind of shit about it. Sorry.

      1. Sorry that you’re crying and sorry for your situation. But so many people wont respond to this because it’s hard to read. Wish you all the best and I’m sorry that this has happened to you.

    2. I never understood how people in this sub keep asking for paragraphs. Do you really find it hard to read? I’m genuinely asking as I truly don’t get it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *