And sometimes it was simply:
“Hold the baby so I can breathe.”
He did.
The Lesson
Looking back, I don’t think the suitcase was really the point.
The diapers weren’t the point.
The bottles weren’t the point.
The baby blankets weren’t the point.
The point was that Ethan had spent weeks acting as though our family was my responsibility and his inconvenience.
He wanted to escape the exhaustion without acknowledging who would have to carry it in his absence.
So I gave him a suitcase full of reminders.
He thought he was angry because I had embarrassed him.
Eventually, he understood that I hadn’t embarrassed him at all.
I had simply made his absence impossible to ignore.
The triplets are now older.
They are loud, curious, energetic little people.
Our house is still chaotic.
There are still toys everywhere.
Someone is always hungry.
Someone always needs something.
But when I look across the room and see Ethan on the floor with all three children climbing over him, I sometimes remember the man who once packed for a two-week vacation while I stood nearby barely able to stay awake.