The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2022 31 We flew off into the dark and opened our foil-wrapped meals, but as the other passengers settled in for an uncomfort- able night’s sleep, our kids became fidgety. Baxter and I read and sang to them. We walked them up and down the aisles. Still, a few hours into the flight, our 1-year-old son, James, threw up on Baxter. I’d packed extra clothes for the kids but none for Baxter and me. I had a turtleneck under my floral lavender sweater, however, so gave the sweater to Baxter. He resumed pacing the aisles, comforting James, in that lovely, too-tight garment. Four hours into the flight, Baxter and I decided to use the sedative we’d been given. We poured out a dose and gave it to Stephanie, who swallowed it obediently and uneventfully. Then we gave the medicine to James. He drank it and promptly vomited it back up, onto me—the mother with no spare cloth- ing. I wiped off as much vomit as I could and resigned myself to stinking for the next 15 hours. Baxter and I also decided then that we would not medicate our other twin, Lindsey. This was the right call. Lindsey and James soon fell asleep. Meanwhile, Stephanie—who’d purportedly been sedated—stayed alert for the rest of the flight. After we landed in Johannesburg, I rushed to collect my bag, then headed to the ladies’ room to change my shirt. My heart sank, however, when I saw it was closed for renovation. I contin- ued reeking as we taxied to a hotel, where our discombobulated toddlers stayed awake all night long, drawing pictures and play- ing with puzzles. b Our flight to Durban the next day was much shorter, and things were really looking up as we drove to our tempo- rary quarters. We passed miles of white sandy beaches. We approached a stately house with a sparkling blue pool—our short-term new home. The landlady, Mary, came out to greet We were flying halfway around the Earth, taking the longest flight in the world with three toddlers. JEFFMOORES