This vlog starts in my Boston apartment in full “comfort mode”—errands, a kitchen reset I didn’t know I needed, and cooking the kind of dinner that feels like self-love. I make blackened chicken (truly one of the best things I’ve ever cooked), gluten-free capellini with a roasted cherry tomato/garlic/basil situation, and I try that viral carrot ribbon dish with tamari, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and chili crunch. I also do my favorite little snacks (cheese is non-negotiable) and share the small at-home things that make me feel grounded when life is moving too fast. Then everything shifts. I’m trying to get to Florida for my friend’s funeral, and it turns into absolute travel chaos: oversold flights, cancellations, missing multiple options, and the stress of calling out of work when it’s not considered “immediate family.” As a flight attendant and as a passenger, this has been one of the hardest summers of travel I can remember—honestly, it’s giving 2016 levels of madness. But I eventually make it, and coming home I’m still in a trance from how significant and healing it was to be there with my friends. My biggest takeaway is simple: show up if you can. Money comes and goes, schedules recover, and the stress fades—but being there for people is what you’ll remember.