“Week has been a shit show. Tons happening.”
I had put in notice at Reonomy on a Friday. The next few days turned into a lot of organizational change. By the time I reached a board conversation, it was clear that leaving right then would make an already hard situation worse.
I had been covering product and technology. I pressed hard to see if we could find somebody who could take the work quickly. There were no good takers in my network.
That was only half the problem.
My partners and I were trying to close the mobile-home-park deal in Columbia before the end of the year. The banks financing it knew I planned to change jobs. Making that change before the paperwork was done would make underwriting harder and could put the deal at risk.
I liked the opportunity I was considering. InVision sounded like an amazing place. But one of my partners and I talked it through and decided that getting the park transaction done had to come first.
By Friday I had the answer. I needed to stay at Reonomy a bit longer and try to make the best of it.
Paris was already happening.
Amanda's birthday and our anniversary were in the same stretch, and we were going for ten days. I sent the long explanation to a friend while I was on the way there. After landing, I told people that my cell still worked and that I was six hours ahead if anything was pressing.
A few days later Amanda was standing in the Louvre courtyard in a wide-brimmed hat. That is the photo I remember from the trip, even though my inbox from the same week is full of lenders, job conversations, and the park purchase agreement.
It was not a clean exit or a clean vacation. I had put in notice and ended up staying. Paris still happened.