I lost count of how many times I heard variations of ‘Have y’all heard from Brenda?’
Famous and infamous. The contradiction of traditional family behavior.
No one asks out of maliciousness or nosiness. They ask because her behavior doesn’t fit the profile of the way black families care about its members.
Family thread is thicker and stronger than any one person’s problems – be it money, illness, addiction, etc. No one wants to let someone else suffer on their own. No one will allow someone to suffer when they can help. This level of connection in family can’t be described as Love because that word is too limiting.
But even family can reach out to help the strayed members so many times while their hand is being smacked away.
I’m grateful that so many of the Wright Family asked about my mother when they saw me having turned out just fine 30 years later. Even the ones that whispered. Even the ones that asked when I wasn’t around.
I’m beyond blessed to be an intersection of two large families that care about the members on a level that can’t be articulated.
It’s exactly how family should be.