CJ had desperately wanted to come with me, but his doctor made the decision that Friday afternoon that he just really shouldn’t leave the hospital right then. He was so disappointed. I don’t think I had ever seen him that dejected. “It’s okay, CJ. It’s only a stupid ceremony.” I tried to cheer him up. “It’ll be long and boring and….” I thought of a possible solution. “I might not even go, myself. Hell, I’d much rather stay here with you than to sit through all that ‘boohoo, I’ll miss high school so much’ shit.” “No way.” He fairly exploded. “You are not going to miss your graduation. Not for any reason, and certainly not for me.” “It’s really not important to me, CJ. Not the ceremony part. You helped school itself be important. I never thought I’d ever feel it was… for any reason. But you made me put effort into it. Honest-to-God effort, CJ. You don’t know how huge that was.
