It was either yesterday or today last year when Connie sat us all down and told us that the doctors found an anomaly in the lining of her spinal cord and brain, and that she would have to go to surgery the next day. I don’t think we celebrated the holiday, or her birthday, that year. I remember the last time she grilled in the backyard, but it was probably a sweltering Memorial Day. I drove Brandon and RJ to go see the fireworks that night. We were late. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was the beginning of the end.
