Rachel Anne Hamelin

After spending all day together, making memories, keeping everyone fed, and making sure the kids were having the best vacation possible, we each had space to recharge. It made us more present with each other and with our kids during the day.

I had learned to distrust suffering that wasn’t visible. If I had been hit by a car, if I had broken a bone, if my pain had existed in a form people could immediately recognize, I never would have questioned whether I deserved rest.

The Disney cruise was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. The one my kids would remember forever. Instead, it’s the trip where they got to see me at my worst. I don’t say that lightly. When I think back to that week, I barely recognize myself. The way I reacted. The decisions I made. How tense I was. How easily overwhelmed I became. That wasn’t who I am. But it was who I was then.