The morning we packed for our long-awaited 8-day family vacation, everything looked perfectly in order.
I’d carefully arranged our itinerary, packed everyone’s snacks, double-checked the luggage, and even made plans for my beloved indoor plants to be cared for while we were away. But when my 15-year-old stepdaughter, Chloe, began filling her suitcase, I hesitated.
Gently, I asked her to stay home and look after the plants instead, promising to pay her for helping. My husband didn’t object that he just gave me a look I couldn’t quite decipher. I took his silence as approval, never realizing how much that small moment would later teach me about family, compromise, and letting go.
