I YEAR LATERToday is Thomas’ graduation from Cazenovia High School. We’re all sitting in folding chairs on the football field a dozen rows back from the stage. It’s a bright sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky. It’s also unseasonably warm and I can’t wait to get out of this suit and tie I’m wearing, not to mention getting rid of this nagging headache. I’ve been getting a lot of them over the last year and they’ve been getting stronger. Monie wants me to get in for tests. Maybe I should, but the thought of being wheeled into a room like a car into the shop for maintenance doesn’t appeal to me.
I pop a couple Tylenol and take Monie’s hand, then look on at the commencement ceremony. The whole Taratoni clan is here, along with my mother and uncle’s family—all twenty-two of us. One big bl
