My daughter and I recently returned from a six day vacation in Florida. The weather was gorgeous, the water swimmable, and grapefruits grew wild.
As I looked back on the visit, remembering good times with family and friends, I realized that some of the best moments with my daughter were on the long plane ride home.
The flight had promised to be a grueling one: 3 hours to Chicago, a tricky transfer, and then 2.5 more hours to Boston.
However, surprisingly it turned out to be a very pleasant trip… and one of the reasons was because my daughter and I endured it together. We became a team, making our way through the airport jungle, putting up with noisy passengers on the first leg of the trip, grabbing a quick snack in Chicago, congratulating ourselves on finding a play area to briefly burn-off steam, running for the next plane, and finally, enjoying the extra empty seat on the last leg.
Several times, as we were standing around waiting in line, or smushed into our seats during flight, my daughter and I found ourselves in conversations that we never would have had at home. At home there is almost always something to do, or some distraction to focus on. During the trip, however, it was just her and me. And we got to know each other a bit better, as fellow travellers.