My Son and I Secretly Boarded My Pilot Husband’s Flight to Surprise Him—Then His Announcement Made Both of Us Stop Smiling

Not while he was clearly breaking.

I said it because I was panicking.

Trying to make the unbearable temporarily ordinary.

Now I would say:

“I know this is frightening.”

Then:

“You don’t have to understand it right now.”

Children do not need parents to pretend catastrophe is normal.