A Lesson from My Daughter

Since I have spent every second of the last 36 hours with my daughter, I have thought a lot about the actual time when the mental rewiring changes a carefree young woman into a neurotic. Fortunately, it has yet to happen to my daughter.

Just One example from the last day and a half. When it comes to preparing for a trip, I realize that I am a bit over-the-top. I like to start preparing about a week before departure, running to CVS for extra travel-size supplies, laying my ironed clothes out in the extra bedroom, assessing and reassessing the necessary suitcase size, and then checking and rechecking that I have all the requisite identification to get me in and out from wherever I’m going.  My daughter’s approach to travel planning is...less rigid. A few days before the trip, I began nudging her about when she was going to pack. She said that I didn’t need to worry, she’d be ready for our 6:45 departure.

As promised , she was ready on time except for one problem.. her suitcase only had half of a handle. Now, one of my husband’s pet peeves is that we have a closet filled with various shaped-size pieces of luggage, and “When are we going to get rid of some of them?!?”  While none of them had a picture of “Big Ben” on them like hers, there were plenty to choose from and they all had working handles. I was stressed, as there was no time to change suitcases, because we had to beat “the morning traffic,” but she remained non-plussed. The problem got worse when, getting off the airport bus, the baggage man ripped the other half off accidentally, leaving just a long, sharp spike, that could no longer be detracted back into the suitcase. Even at 5’9”” inches, she remained in good spirits as she walked leaning over pulling her broken suitcase while walking all over Newark Airport. At check-in, as she gladly signed the waiver to hold United Airlines harmless for her damaged suitcase, I feared future litigation of our fellow passengers’ cloth suitcases that would be ripped to shreds thanks to that spike.

The lesson: Be more like your daughter. It appears that there will be no lawsuits in our future.






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