The morning after the scan, we got on our rebooked flight to New York, for a long weekend away from everything. That’s where we are now, jet-lagged and bleary-eyed and cold.

I cannot recommend sitting on a plane for nearly 17 hours total while 6-months pregnant and I am dreading the way back. Sitting still for so long, gave me a lot of time to think. It was strange to feel Junebug kick from an airplane seat and patiently wait for the turbulence to subside so I could focus on feeling every bump and wiggle. As I watched movie after movie, after movie, I was more attuned than ever to a lack of representation, whether in terms of ethnicity, age or disability. So many must feel so invisible. 

I really dread arriving in the US. I find it really stressful every time, especially clearing immigration. Erin’s a US citizen so we have to split up into our separate lines, too, which just makes me nervous.

But it has to be said, there is nothing like standing in an international airport immigration queue for an hour and a half, to remind you about the infinite diversity of humanity. There is every kind of person. All different colours and shapes, with curly hair and straight hair and no hair—round and wobbly, tall and lanky, pock-faced and dimpled, freckled and birthmarked, bearded, decorated. Every face and silhouette is its own unique story of genetics and circumstances, decisions and dumb luck. Sad, happy, grumpy—we’re all so weird and wonderful. Everyone is distinctive. And even in the midst of this super smelly, frustrated and stressful hoard, it was beautiful to see that with new eyes.

I saw other things, too. How far the fingerprint pad at the counter was from the ground—and thought about how someone with skeletal dysplasia wouldn’t be able to reach it. Erin thought exactly the same. The two of us spent our respective waiting times thinking about situations all around us, trying to dream up solutions.

We both arrived in New York feeling revved up with the prospect of helping to pave a way for Junebug. I am squeezing every ounce of hope out of every corner of my being, that we get that chance.