The true cost
"Deep breaths, keep taking deep breaths," I repeated to myself as Amelia screamed and squirmed in her stroller, clearly aware something was happening she didn't like. We slowly approached the security guard, mechanically repeating, "passports and tickets in hand, passports and tickets in hand, keep moving, passports and tickets in hand." I felt panic rising into the back of my throat as my stomach did that familiar flip flop. "You gave birth without an epidural and you've run a marathon, this is nothing." I told my otherwise secure self. I watched my parent's tear streaked faces fade away as I kept shoving "organic, kid friendly" cheetos into Amelia's hands. I was balancing the cheetos bin on top of the stroller, pushing with one hand, passports and tickets in my mouth and pulling my double very organized neatly packed carry on bags with the other. We were in line at the airport to go through security to fly 10,000 miles back to ...