Mama, Papa — I started planning this in January, on a Tuesday night, sitting at my kitchen table in London while it was raining outside and my flight to Houston was nine months away and already I was excited. I started planning because I remembered what you said at the 2023 reunion, Papa — you said, "when I am gone, I want you all to keep gathering." You said it quietly, after the long dinner, when most of the cousins had gone to bed and it was just the older ones still at the table. I wrote it in my notebook that night. I have been thinking about it since. So I planned. Seven months, thirty-four messages, one wrong weekend in January that Chukwuemeka will never be allowed to forget. And here we are — everyone, in the same place, for three days. You made a family that wants to come home. That is not a small thing. That is everything. All my love from the planning committee (just me), Adaeze

