After them are Izzie and JJ, Izzie looking long-suffering as JJ smiles at her dopily, his crush only having increased exponentially in the last three years since it began. JJ says they’re going to get married one day. Creed says that sounds awfully close to inbreeding. Izzie says that she would chew JJ up and spit him out. It’s a work in progress.

We follow them, my husband and I, walking arm in arm.

Noah waves at us, yelling, “Hi, Daddy! Hi, Papa!” as he stands in front of Creed. Lily looks embarrassed but then waves at us too, not to be outdone by her brother.

Dom laughs as we approach, looking flushed and happier than I’ve ever seen him before. His suit is tight across his arms and chest, and his hands are clasped in front of him. But I can see the way his eyes dart behind us, knowing who he’s waiting for. What it means. His son, Ben, stands at his side. Next to him is Stacey, holding Ben’s hand, and Ben is staring at his father adoringly.

Alice and Jerry sit next to Ian and Stephanie in the front row, Jerry and Ian dabbing their eyes while Alice and Stephanie console them. Megan and Marty sit behind them, their two-year-old daughter, Clover (no, I’m not joking; yes, it’s the worst name in the world), sitting on her father’s lap.

This is who I am, okay?

These people.

It’s in the warmth I feel at them standing at my side.

It’s the way my son’s hand feels in mine.

The way my daughter raises her arms for her daddy to pick her up.

The way JJ sighs dreamily at Izzie.

The way Izzie elbows him in the gut.

It’s in the way Creed tells him to keep it in his pants, while Anna sighs and shakes her head.

And it’s in the way Dom takes a sharp breath at the sight of my brother walking toward him, like the very idea of breathing has become an impossibility. It’s in the way Ty only has eyes for him with each deliberate step he takes. It’s in the way Dom cries the moment before he kisses Tyson for the first time as a married couple, the way our family stands and yells and throws confetti, the way they surround us, everyone talking all at once, voices joyous and happy. It’s in the way that I think I catch sight of an old woman smiling at us from just down the beach, raising a hand just once, but as soon as I look again, there’s no one there.

These are the moments.

For better or worse, this is us.

For all of our wrongs and for all of our rights, this is us.

WE’VE BEEN on this road for a while now, you and I.

And I thank you for that.

But I think there comes a time in every story when the end comes, the pages dwindling, the people happy.