Ahh! The Joys of The Genuine Fantasy Adventures
When I worked at Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve, we had a Trend called "Fantasy Adventure." It acknowledged the joys of the roads untaken. The adventures we are quite willing to buy the SUV, hiking books and backpack to have -- and yet for which we are never quite ready to do more than purchase the look. The right stuff is enough. Why go all the way to Paris when you can get the Eiffel Tower in the background at EPCOT?
For me, television advertising routinely gives rise to flights of fascinating fantasy.
- What would it be like to have a loved one who died from mesothelioma and to decide today is the day to contact a 1800 law firm?
- How genuine would be my enjoyment at the weekly Italian meal for me and my family if I knew the grandmotherly hostess was popping pain medication to get her through the ordeal?
- What would the entirety of my life be like to create in me the level enthusiasm seemingly expected by the announcer when he tells me that Golden Corral is now serving breakfast for dinner?
Lately, I've been thinking more about these armchair traveler, Walter Mitty moments. More in keeping with Thoreau's "I have traveled a good deal in Concord" worldview. My Concord has become my email inbox, which provides daily renewed appreciation of Microsoft's decision to call its system Windows.
Most recently: The news from the Women in Agribusiness Summit, which takes place in Minneapolis in September (at the Marriott). While I am clueless how I first got on the distribution list and I am really quite tidy about unsubscribing to random campaigns, this one is provocative to me. Each time an update arrives, I wonder what my life would be like if I were to have received it legitimately. Might I have known Sarena Lin, this year's keynote? She's president of Cargill Feed & Nutrition. I can spend a good five minutes in reverie constructing the 'row she had to hoe' to get there. Would I attend the opening night reception or the lunch and informal networking session? Would I go to the tandem event, the Oil & Grainseed Trade Summit, on Wednesday? It's kind of the reverse of the children's book: Oh, The Places I'm Not Going to Go!
I am quite thrilled there is a place for women in agribusiness. While even more thrilled it's not me, I acknowledge this feeling is undoubtedly a vestige of having years ago escaped the midwest and farming communities and fields of "knee high by the fourth of July" corn. Still on Monday, September 28, I plan to raise a glass to the path taken by someone able to rise to the occasion with a speech entitled "Women & Diversity: The Roots of Tackling Ag's Biggest Challenges."
Don't you kind of want to be a fly on that wall?