To go to Chicago or not...

Goodness, I am in a pickle. For the past year, Chris and I have traveled fairly frequently. Granted, a lot of our trips have been paid for by extremely generous family members. And for that, we are grateful! We have been to Florida, Minnesota, Hawaii, we are headed to Texas in June, we have our annual trip to Vegas in July for a work seminar, the list keeps going. My birthmom has invited me to her niece's graduation in Chicago at the end of May, early June. The problem is, Chris and I are trying to win a 90 day contest at work that is based on a point system. The reward is a full expense paid trip to Mexico plus $1000! We want to win so bad! You get points for closings, under contracts, attendance, etc. There are 65 agents in our office and we have won awards before in the past so we actually have a shot at winning this. Maybe we aren't a front runner but we are optimistic. Anyway, by us being gone, we lose out on some points that other agents will get. We already know that we are missing out on some valuable points when we are in Texas for a week. There is nothing we can do about that. So to be gone even more is not good. It probably will take us out of the running all together if we ever had a shot. Plus another factor, is obviously money. Chris and I have a lot of committments already this year. I felt I made a smart decision to decline going to Chicago. Yes it would be great to see my new family. They all want to see me and meet me for the first time. But Chris and I have so much on our plate. Another factor too is that I am starting to work part time for the Census next week. It is only for 6-8 weeks but that runs right in line with when I have essentially 2 jobs. I don't actually feel much stress BUT I did after I received this phone call on Sunday...

It went something like this....
Peggy (my birthmom who just got into my life last June)- "I want to talk to you about Chicago. I know you said you can't come but I wanted to explain something to you. This is kind of a once in a lifetime deal. Kim (her sister) is moving to Florida in a few months. Jeannie (her other sister) just bought a house in Florida and she hasn't told anyone and she plans to break the news in Chicago. Dale's (her husband) family will be there. Randy and Paula (her other sibblings) will be there. It will be the only opportunity to meet all these people who really want to meet you. There won't be another event like this again." Then she said that her mother (my grandmother I guess) won't be alive for much longer....

Here is the part that bothered me...
"You owe it to her out of respect to be in Chicago".

She put major guilt on me. I was taken a back. I didn't know how to respond. I think I just said I will talk it over with Chris.

So I am trying to decide if I should squeeze in another trip into our already busy schedule. And money still isn't growing on trees....And now I might be feeling stressed!