The morning we left the States was stressful, to say the least. All of the kids and I had been fighting off colds for about a week before. I was doing everything in my power to keep us healthy by keeping us indoors as much as possible and pumping us full of immune booting concoctions, but it all hit us a couple days prior.
The night before we left Pepa started running a fever of 101. I gave her Tylenol but it still hadn’t come down when she woke up to nurse at 4am. I was immediately concerned, texted Jeff and we decided if she’s not healthy enough to fly then we need to figure it out fast, in case we need to alter flight plans. I’m not am alarmist. She didn’t show any other symptoms other than a stuffy nose. As much as I didn’t want to go to the ER, I quickly got us ready for the peace of mind that I wasn’t putting her, or anyone else, in danger by venturing on 24-hours of international travel. The staff at the ER was really sweet and tried to get us out as quickly as possible, knowing we were leaving later that day. Three hours later, she was cleared to go home and fly back to Riyadh.
Those few hours set me back tremendously as I had a number of things to still get done – the last bits of laundry (I hate packing dirty clothes if I can avoid it), final packing, returning the rental car, cleaning out the apartment, showering, etc. As a result I left my credit card at the gas station when I stopped to fill up the rental, I didn’t gauge all of the items left to pack correctly and didn’t have the time to buy another suitcase to fit the remaining stuff, oh and I left the valves to my breast pump in the dishwasher. I didn’t realize that last one until the morning after we arrived in Riyadh. Ugh!
Fortunately, a Good Samaritan turned my credit card in and someone from the gas station Facebook messaged me to let me know she had it. I was in such a rush I didn’t know it was gone! I left the items that didn’t fit in our luggage for my mother to ship to us. She was a BIG help that day. Luckily I have one spare valve so I can still pump to build up a reserve, albeit inefficiently, while waiting for replacement valves to arrive. Side note: I ended up donating my milk reserve because there is no way I could have brought it with me.
I would like to say I sailed through prepping for this journey with ease. I thought I had it all covered. I was chipping away at tasks everyday the week leading up. I was purging and pre-packing. I sorted through all of our things, separating what could go in the layette shipment versus the minimal items we could take to get us through a few weeks until the shipment arrived. I had this.
Inevitably, shit happens. When it happens the best we can do is just roll with it and recognize the numerous upsides. Pepa is healthy and we were able to reunite our little family without further delay. I got my credit card back immediately, rather than having to cancel it or, worse, have it stolen and run up. We had a really nice driver who showed up early to load us up and got us to the airport with plenty of time, despite my running late, and found someone to help me with ALL the bags. The airport and airline staffs at Detroit Metro were amazingly helpful and patient with our entourage and subsequent baggage. The flights themselves were smooth and The Gents only had a few meltdowns along the way. I don’t blame them for losing it. Sometime you just want to throw your hands up and collapse on the floor. They were absolutely exhausted and acting exactly how I wished I could have.
When we touched down in Riyadh I was really proud of my little brood, and I told them so. Three flights in 24 hours are a lot for a single person to handle, let alone two toddlers and a 2-month old who are all under the weather. They really are world travelers now. This trip was a turning point for The Gents. They now easily walk themselves on and off a flight, know to get settled in their seats and put their seatbelts on. They’re pretty low maintenance. They put their headphones on to watch movies, will take a nap or eat when they feel like it. And I barely heard a peep out of Pepa, unless she wanted to eat.
During that day, as each incident occurred and the positive interactions happened, I knew God was looking over us. The universe opened up with kindness to bring us some people to make it all a little easier and get us back to Riyadh. It may not have been the ideal day leading up to take-off but it all worked out in the end, and for that I’m grateful.
