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| My Daddy and I at Howard 2011 |
With their past in mind, my grandparents used their marriage and new found values to create a family built on strong relationships. Because of the way they raised all of us, the importance of sticking together and building stronger familial bonds became our number one priority. In the Black community, family is one of the most important aspects of one's life because in the past, most of our ancestors were taking away from their families against their will. We value what we have because we never know when it will all be taken away from us. I am starting to understand that more now that I am in college. Even though my family has not been taken away from me, I left everyone I love in California to attend school in Washington, D.C. The distance is causing so many emotions that I never knew I had. My parents are not right down the hall from me when I am feeling sick or lonely. I am learning to appreciate my family more and more because I am now on my own. I am learning that no matter how far away I am, my family is always there when I need them. They will always make it a priority to see that I am well. It is nice to know that I can be hundreds of miles away and I still have people who would jump on a plane to rescue me if anything were to go wrong. My grandparents had one mission upon arriving in California and, to me, they succeeded.
