Where Do You Want to Go Today?

If you're a Boomer like me--or just a student of popular culture--you'll remember this commercial from 1994:

Microsoft advertising campaign: Where Do You Want To Go Today? (1994) on Vimeo

When it aired, my kids were 4 and minus-1. I'd left a lucrative career with an international management consulting firm to start my own business (which luckily yielded me about the same money with two-thirds the hours). I was a PC gal, not Apple, because that's what I'd been introduced to in the '80's.

Even so, this Microsoft commercial bugged me on a visceral level. Where do I want to go today?

Someplace REAL. Where I can hear new-to-me accents and languages. Where I can smell tantalizing dishes my Betty-Crocker-style mother wouldn't have dreamed of. Where I can see exciting vistas and breathtaking art and architecture with my own eyes, not second-hand from a photographer who's living an enviable life. Where I can challenge myself to find a train, order a meal, or navigate through a museum in a country where I don't speak the language.

In other words, where do I want to go today? OUTSIDE! SOMEWHERE NEW!

And as our children grew, we endeavored to do the same for them. There was (and is) still plenty of time to sit in front of a computer or stare at a phone screen. We wanted them to get out and EXPERIENCE LIFE!

That's why now--a short few months before executing a cross-country move--I'm heading to Europe, first with my sister (10 days in Scotland) and then three weeks in Germany and France, both with my son (and his fabulous partner) and solo. I'm sure my travels will spark my writer's imagination, but that's not the primary reason I'm going.

It's because I can (and of course I'll be watching my budget in the future like a hawk!), and I'm not dead yet.

This would've been said in jest a year ago, but recently I've experienced the loss of several friends and acquaintances. It's given me a deeper, more immediate perspective on how precious and fleeting life can be. Whatever your personal circumstances, I urge you to live your life fully and deliberately.

Where do YOU want to go today?