Happy anniversary, Fluffy Cat.

I built this today instead of doing actual work. I'm not sorry.

Four years. Forty-something cities. One sabbatical that we both know changed everything. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I kept thinking — someone should write this down. Not for anyone else. Just so we don't forget what it felt like to be on that boat, watching Africa get closer, having no idea what came next and choosing it anyway.

The problem is I can only tell half of it.

I see the bars at midnight. You find every cat on every street. I remember the crossing. You remember what you were reading on the train south. I built the frame. You're the story.

So I left you space everywhere. Every chapter has your name on it. The blue is mine. The sand is yours — waiting.

Tell me what Tarifa felt like. Tell me what Essaouira gave you. Tell me about the elephant on your porch in Thailand. Tell me what you noticed in Chiang Mai that I completely missed. Tell me your version of Madeira NYE on that rooftop when the whole sky went up at once.

Tell me everything you would have told your friends if they asked where you went last year. Because that's what's missing from this site. That's what's missing from every story I try to tell about us — the half of it that only you can see.

Also — I want your solo trips too. The places you go without me. That's part of this. It's part of us.

This is ours to build together. I just started it.

Bear Cub

June 12, 2026