Right now, at this very moment of this very hour, we were supposed to be on a plane flying through the air to Buenos Aires. We were to arrive tomorrow, on Gaby's birthday, just in time for supper in the city. We got Biet her passport and told all of our friends and family in South America that we were coming, and then things changed. Our jobs went through some major transitions, our finances swung behind them, my body began to stretch and morph to grow a tiny human being inside, and multiple doctor and midwife appointments and tests were penciled in to make sure that everything was growing just right. And suddenly, we found ourselves in a position where traveling to the southern hemisphere of the world seemed not to be the wisest choice. We wondered if it might make more sense to stay and save, since in a few months I won't be working anymore. But instead we said: "Who cares? We're the mad ones, the ones who adventure, the ones who take chances. Let's just go and see what happens." But the universe had other plans, and one by one our travel arrangements strayed off course, and our planned vacation began to feel like an uphill battle. So Gaby and I discussed it (how adult of us!) and decided that the reasonable thing, the responsible thing, the right thing, was to cancel our beloved trip. And it was a very sad day. But it felt so good. Suddenly, it was as if a huge weight had been lifted off of us, and the pressure of trying to make an impossible trip work out had dissipated. And after a couple days of being very bummed out, we began to feel free, really free.
Its funny how sometimes you fight and fight for a certain idea, never bending your view or opening up to change, when it may not be the exact right thing for you. We were craving the excitement and adventure and freedom of Argentina, only to find that all of those things exist a whole lot closer to home. And for whatever reason, we were meant to be here, in NYC, this September.
So tomorrow we will instead be in Little Argentina, NYC, at a big steak dinner with friends, celebrating Gaby's birthday. It will be a great day. It will be a great season. I can feel it.