I was born in Detroit and moved to Mississippi about 12 years ago. I have not seen my family in about nine or 10 consecutive years, so seeing my family for the first time in  so long left my mind spinning with possible reactions from family members. What made things worse is that a funeral brought my family back together. My imagination went wild.

I expected my family to look at me as if they barely knew me, to ridicule me for having a billion allergies, and turn their nose up at me for being in a sorority and dating a white guy. I expected to be ignored and dissed all in one sitting. However, that did not happen.

Instead, the females squealed loudly and rushed to hug me. They shouted things like, "I miss my Tee!" The males in the family embraced me like giant teddy bears, and my grandpa kissed me on the cheek and hugged me tightly. My younger cousins went out of their way to get to know me since I have not seen them since their births, and one of my sisters, who I was pretty sure hated my guts, smiled at me and updated me on her life.

I grew up thinking that my family did not care that much because I barely saw them, and I was told some bad things. However, after spending two weeks with them, I realized how wonderful my family is. I just had to experience things for myself in order to see that my family does care about me.