My Son Walked Across the Graduation Stage Wearing a Bright Red Dress While Hundreds of People Laughed. I Was the Only Person in the Auditorium Who Knew Why.

I couldn’t even look up.

The tiny object lay in the palm of my hand, barely heavier than a coin.

Yet somehow it felt like it weighed more than everything that had happened during the past seventeen years.

Julian stood in front of me.

Still wearing that bright red dress.

Still surrounded by hundreds of people.