The Carry-On Bag That Kept Me Sane

I used to be the mom who packed everything.

Four outfits a day.
A pharmacy’s worth of “just in case.”
Snacks for a small village.
Three activity kits plus backups for the backups.

It was… a situation.

Then one day, during a flight delay where I could feel my soul trying to exit my body, I realized:

I do not need more stuff. I just need the right stuff.

So now, we have The Carry-On That Saves Us.
Not glamorous. Not influencer-pretty. Just functional in a mom-sanity kind of way.

Inside it is:

• A tiny “surprise” pouch I pull out only when chaos threatens.

• Snacks that do not crumble into emotional dust.

• A tiny doodle notebook that has solved more meltdowns than deep breathing ever did.

• One small toy that looks unimpressive but somehow becomes the entire personality of the day.

And the best part?

Keira helps pack it now.

She chooses her “travel job” (snack commander, toy curator, or vibes manager — she takes it very seriously).

Does this guarantee peace?
Absolutely not.
We are still feral in public sometimes.

But there’s something about having a plan, even a tiny one, that makes me feel like:

“Okay. We can do this. We have a system. We are not going down today.”

And every time we get through a flight with only minor emotional turbulence, I catch her watching me — the same way I watched moms when I was little.

Not for perfection.
But for reassurance.

The secret wasn’t packing more.
It was packing smarter.
And also accepting that sometimes the real carry-on is confidence and vibes.