A stranger refused to leave the airplane seat I had paid extra to reserve, and at first I thought that would be the hardest part of traveling alone with two children.
I was wrong.
Minutes after takeoff, my ten-year-old daughter revealed something that made the entire cabin fall silent.
My son, Oliver, was only six weeks old, and this was my first time flying alone with both him and my ten-year-old daughter, Emma.
I had spent days worrying about every little thing that could go wrong because traveling with a newborn already felt complicated enough, and adding an older child meant I wanted to remove as much uncertainty as possible before we ever reached the gate.
That was why I had paid extra to reserve two seats together with additional legroom.
One seat was for Emma, and the other was for me while Oliver stayed secured against my chest in
