You walk into the room, a look of confusion on your face and say, “Mom, there’s this girl trying to talk to me on Facebook. I don’t know who she is but she says she’s my sister.”

Like most parents, we thought this day might never come. On June 9 our youngest child will graduate from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

For weeks now life has seemed strange, surreal, not grounded. This must be what suspended animation feels like.