I declined the meeting because I was out of office in Peru.
That should be a normal sentence. It did not feel normal at the time.
The week started with the usual movement between New York and Atlanta. I flew down Tuesday morning, came back Wednesday, crossed the city, and got on another plane. The calendar still had Wahoo work on it. Apply was still moving. My inbox did not become less interested in me because I had left the country.
But this trip had a much better reason than work.
It was Amanda's birthday and our ten-year anniversary. We had been together through Brooklyn apartments, jobs, races, renovations, too many flights, and a long list of ideas that I was sure would be easy. Ten years deserved more than squeezing dinner between calls.
So we went to Peru.
The logistics were extremely us. There were PDFs for Lima and Cusco, hotel messages, test documents, train tickets in several time slots, and a Machu Picchu tour confirmation sitting in Drive. I forwarded Amanda the hotel note from the airport. A delayed connection through Mexico City made the trip longer before it really started.
Cusco was worth the mess. The camera roll starts with stone streets, blue sky, church walls, and the two of us wearing sunglasses in the Plaza de Armas. We ate in a dining room with red beams and old paintings. I took too many photos of the same square because every direction looked good.
The next day was Machu Picchu.
There are dozens of versions of the mountain, the terraces, the clouds, and us trying to fit all of it into a selfie. We were tired, very happy, and standing somewhere that did not look real even while we were looking at it.
I still answered one work email. I apologized for the late reply, said it had been a busy week, and explained that I had gotten “a little break” for my girlfriend's birthday and our ten-year anniversary.
Little was doing some work there.
After Peru I was headed back to Atlanta. The flights and calendars were waiting. For a few days, Amanda and I had Cusco, a train, a mountain, and ten years behind us.