UNITED STATES─If the coronavirus has taught us anything, it’s to be extremely appreciative of family. Being resigned to the house with family for weeks and months in some cases, it’s tough. You love your family, but at times they can push your buttons in ways that are not the easiest to grapple with. However, I would not trade this time in for the world. Why? Just think you learn things, you have conversations that you have avoided and more importantly, you create memories that will last for a lifetime people.

I had a weekend that I was not expecting. First, an impromptu wedding that I was not planning to attend just because I didn’t think it was the smartest thing to go to a wedding in the middle of a pandemic. However, my family is not like most families. If an invitation is extended and you don’t show up, it is something you will NEVER and trust me when I say that, NEVER hear the end of. Why? My family is like a dog holding onto a bone they will remind you when you least expect it.

That being said, I had just had an exhaustive work week, I hadn’t slept in days, but I will admit I was happy I went. Why? I saw some faces I hadn’t seen in years and getting re-acclimated with family members I have not seen in weeks, months or years and that is always a good thing. You don’t know when you will last see blood and you don’t want to be placed in that predicament where you regret not telling someone that you love them, that you miss them, sharing milestones in your life and so much more.

There is nothing more important to me than sharing memories from my family’s past. Talking about our childhood, things we did, things that made no sense, how we’ve grown, where we are going and what we hope for in the near future. I don’t know how to say it beyond spending time with family is so important because it forces you to see things in yourself that you want to work on and how being apart from your loved ones impact your emotional wellbeing.

The Wedding was great, had some great food and terrific laughs with siblings and cousins that I’ve grown up with. Move onto to a day later where an aunt of mine threw an impromptu backyard cookout. I really wasn’t going to go to this event because it was beyond last minute. I had already planned to just relax; I was not feeling the best with a slight sore throat and just my body aching from not getting quality sleep in the past few weeks.

With that said, I went because as I’ve said it before on both my mother’s and father’s side of the family, not attending family outings or events can be like a death in the family even if that is NOT the actual case. They treat it that way, but it’s not. The wedding was a first cousin on my dad’s side; the backyard cookout was an aunt on my mom’s side. Again I got the opportunity to spend time with family members I have not seen in months because of the pandemic and as icing on the cake, it was nice to see my aunt who actually contracted COVID-19 weeks ago and was recovering.

You have to be careful and take extra precautions with this virus because there are some who are more vulnerable than others, and the last thing I want is to be responsible for someone catching a virus that could ultimately result in them losing their life. That is something I don’t want on my conscious and something I refuse to have on my conscious America. Family is like gold, and as much as we might dislike them at times, no matter how often they get underneath our skin, blood is blood and you cannot run from it even if you try.