I bought plane tickets for the whole family, but at the airport my daughter-in-law gently told me that they had given my seat to their own mother because the children feel “closer to her” and my son quietly accepted. I froze for a moment, then smiled and walked away without raising my voice. A minute later, after calming down, I changed all the $47,000 vacation in Hawaii with a single educated phone call and quietly reorganized my $5.8 million estate in a way no one expected.

Ten days of memory creation with the people I loved the most. PART 2

Total cost: forty-seven thousand dollars.

It’s worth every penny, I said to myself, to see the faces of my grandchildren when they first saw the Pacific Ocean. It’s worth every air mile, every call early in the morning with a travel concierge sitting somewhere in a glass office in Honolulu or Los Angeles.

I didn’t just throw money at a travel agent and call him one day. I’ve been on this journey.

Eight-year-old Tyler is obsessed with sea turtles. I booked a special marine biology tour led by a local nonprofit organization where children can learn about home conservation and watch volunteers label turtles.

Six-year-old Emma loves princesses and dolphins. I found a dolphin encounter program in a reputable facility, read each review to make sure it wasn’t exploitative and booked dinner at a restaurant where I could dress up in a little blue dress and feel like I had entered their own fairy tale. I even ordered a small plastic tiara on Amazon, sent it to my home in Chicago and packed it into my carry-on luggage.