Work Trip

After some back and forth at work where I thought I would not have to travel, I ended up having to travel. It was not ideal since there were a few things I wanted to stay in town for, but work is work. I ended up trying to do a quick turnaround so I could spend as little time away as possible. I didn’t want my 1 year old son L to forget who I was and when I was gone for much longer over the summer, he was not wanting to be around me much. I had built back our little relationship and didn’t want to leave him again for an extended period of time.

The kids were sad that I had to leave and even though they were not as sad as when their Mommy leaves, they were showing some emotions the night before. The day that I was traveling, I left early in the morning and everything seemed to go fine at home. I got to see my kids on FaceTime and couldn’t wait to be back the next day. Again, it was a short trip with a quick turnaround like I wanted to plan…and sometimes things do not go according to plan.

The day I was going to fly back, I had a chance to catch an earlier flight home. I was going to pay the change fee to book myself on the earlier flight and all was set. The gate agent didn’t even charge me the change fee because she knew I was heading back to help with my kids’ bedtime routine. I was excited. As it got closer to boarding the flight, there was a delay and we would take off a bit later. Then there was another delay and another delay. Soon, by early afternoon flight turned into a nightmare where nobody knew whether we were going to take off that night or not.

I was trying to make the most of the situation and go to chat with a co-worker while pounding double orders of Chik-Fil-A. My kids were sad I wasn’t going to make it back for their bedtime and I was just hoping to make it home that night. After a bit past midnight after multiple hours of delays, we were cleared to head home. I was so happy and made it back late a night to wake my kids up the following morning.

Before kids, I would have jumped at the chance to travel and to stay somewhere else for a longer period of time. It’s a change of scenery and changes to explore or meet new people. Nowadays, I just want to be around my family and wherever they are is where I want to spend my time. Priorities change over time and that’s a good thing as life shifts. My family is my priority now and I know my kids love that (at least for now!).