Becoming a man

I believe it is cosmic tradition that the day a Catania graduates, he becomes a man. My brother had a particularly unsettling way of becoming a man. My mom's friends cat had to be put down. It was very sad, and the worst part was, he had to bury it in her backyard. He said it is much harder then you would think, burying a cat. Something that just had life, and then was lifeless so soon. But it taught him something, and that day he became a man. I, on the day of graduation, was working for my church because I desperately needed a job. I was under the impression that I was going to be running an internet line from one building to another, but they stuck me outside doing yard work instead. That would have been okay, provided I had any idea what I was doing with the edger they gave me, not to mention the weed whacker. My boss was attempting to show me how to start the edger, but his body was blocking what he was doing. I walked around to see, and right as I did, he started the edger. It hit me, and made me jump back. The blade cut up and down the side of my knee, leaving me bloody and severely woozy. I remember being very close to passing out. I think it was due to my blood sugar. They gave me a peppermint and everything cleared up. I looked down. The gashes were huge. And that was when I became a man. Enduring all of that pain, and the stitches after, and still walking that night.

And honestly, my dad is much more man than both of us. I don't want to know what he had to do on his graduation day to get there.