This year was somehow different, as my longing to go home for Thanksgiving was foreshadowed with a sense of urgency, though I knew not why. I just had this nagging sense that if I didn't make the trip back to Florida that something bad was going to happen.

Turns out I was being completely irrational - I made the trip home and bad things happened anyway.

Actually, they happened before I got there - about three weeks before. I just happened to find out about it when my brother picked me up from the airport.

"Mom had a stroke and she has diabetes."

"WHAT!?" I wanted to jump out of the car.

"Well, we think it was a stroke. We have to get the results back. She didn't want us to tell you because she thought it would get in the way of your studies."

That's fantastic. Now my family is second rate to my education. I love the fact that I am 31 years old and other people are still calling the shots.

While I understand the rationale behind their not wanting to tell me about her condition, they fail to realize that withholding that type of information does not make the situation better. These are not the behaviors of a healthy relationship.