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I set out at some point to find our mom’s side of the family,

even spending thousands of dollars on a private detective. No luck

there either. Then, I happened to call my grandmother again and

she said she had finally heard from Selima. I asked her what the

number was to reach her, and she put me on hold saying she had

to remember where she put it. At that moment there was nothing

more important to me than that phone number. I was prepared to

drive from Atlanta to

Virginia that night just to find that number! But, luckily, she

found it. I called Selima and she answered. I had so many

questions. I immediately wanted to know how “bad” she was

doing but instead she told me quite the opposite. She was about

to graduate from college and wanted me to come to her

graduation. I didn’t even get an opportunity to tell her how I had

“made it” because I was too busy hearing her success story. Who

cared how I had become this bigͲtime chef, I was just so proud of

Selima for overcoming all that she was up against. Hell, I was

proud of us both for persevering and pushing through despite all

we had encountered and endured.