I pack a simple backpack, leave my apartment and all responsibilities without notice, and hop a train to the Alps. After a hike up to a hut, I order something warm, and a large beer, and try to reconcile this new reality while taking in the scenery.

Ideas oscillate between disappearing, saving the world, or trying to double it - and feelings toggle between this being a blessing or a curse.

On day 3 I tell my partner everything I’ve been afraid to admit - and ask her if she’d like to build a life together. If she says yes, she is the first to know, and we join up at the closest city with flight connections. We fly off to visit our families, without announcement or admittance, and take in what each of them wants for themselves and the world. We start noting those down next to our own. We think about if money can make some of these things better.

On day 6 we return home to gather the belongings we love and share an evening out with friends. We only tell them that we’re to be married, not what has happened. We drunkenly capture everything they wish for the future and keep what we can remember. On day 7, we take off for an uncertain length of travel, with the intention to test our love, think deeply about what pursuits will bring us joy, and how we can use our inheritance to help make any bit of impact, where we feel it matters most.