Hang on, she still has two spare tickets of her own: "mother and father...my younger sister, and three grandparents. This leaves me two tickets." Who else is she going to invite, other than the several-years wife of her father? I don't know whether she needs a ticket for herself, but perhaps she's objecting to inviting her stepmother because she wants to invite the hot new guy she spotted in the supermarket last week...

Am I missing something here?

One more thing, when I graduated from University, I was allowed two tickets. No space for my sister or fiance, let alone extended family.

Sorry, but a bunch of you really are lacking reading comprehension this week.

"...inviting her would mean not inviting my aunt and uncle, with whom I am much closer. I view the ceremony as a celebration of my graduation and those who helped me get there."

So it's not that she wants to disinvite her stepmother just out of spite, but because she wants her aunt and uncle (who have obviously been part of her life for a long time) to be there.

Sorry - I just scanned it (while I'm at work - shush!). You're right - that's where the other two tickets could go.
I wonder though - are the aunt and uncle *really* that important to her, or is she actually just distressed (which would be natural) that her dad has married someone new, rather than trying to get back together with her mum?

CivilisedEnglishGirl:

One more thing, when I graduated from University, I was allowed two tickets. No space for my sister or fiance, let alone extended family.

two tickets = exactly enough space for your sister and fiancé

Or maybe they weren't #1 and #2 on the list, after all.

k........this is a high school graduation, generally for the high schools they have reserved seating for the family and then bleacher seats or standing for first come first serve....(at least this is how it is where I came from). So I don't think that there really should be a question of who can come, it is just a matter of where they will sit. Yeah, you want your closest family/friends to be in the reserved seats, but I agree with prudie...stepmom is part of your family now. Aunt and Uncle will understand the seating situation.

No, the two tickets went to my parents, who had topped up my student grant and enabled me to spend four years learning Russian! Most of my fellow graduands opted to invite their parents - the ceremony was inside a cathedral so space was very limited. Also, with royalty present, it was fewer people to search!

Now, have I name-dropped enough? (blush!)

At the high school that both of my sisters went to there were 8 tickets (I think... it could have been a different number since this was a few years ago), half of which were for close-up seating and half of which were for further away seating. If she didn't mention extra non-ticketed seating, it probably wasn't available (there are only so many people you can fit in a building, wherever they sit).

my high school didn't have a limit, but my undergrad had a limit of 4 tickets per person. those with large families often ended up trading/buying tickets from others who were only inviting a few people, so that could be an option here. I doubt all of this kid's friends have 8 people who want to sit through their graduation.

then again, it's entirely possible that this is more about getting back at the stepmother than actually inviting the aunt and uncle.

My HS graduation was at an open-air pavilion, so we had limited pavilion seats and unlimited lawn seating.

oh, no - I think she absolutely does not want to invite her stepmother *out of spite*. she's just justifying her decision by rationalizing her "it's all about me" attitude.