The Donna Who Walked Away
On our third wedding anniversary, Lorenzo Falcone came back from Sicily with a chest of jewels.
Without thinking, he slid the chest toward my sister Vella and told her to pick first.
I stared, eyes wide, and the disappointment slipped out before I could stop it:
"Lorenzo. It's our anniversary. Don't I get to choose first?"
He faltered for just a second. Then he said:
"Lily, as a Donna, you should know how to be gracious. You can't always act like a little girl."
I'd heard that for over twenty years.
Since I was a child, the eldest daughter of the family, I'd long learned to step aside. Give up the horse I loved. Give up my grandfather's keepsake. Give up the chance to study abroad. Give up t