Begin.

I couldn't sleep last night. Maybe it was the coffee, maybe it was the long "to do" list. Instead of counting sheep, I counted all of the exotic places that various close friends of mine had visited in 2010. The itinerary rivals that of Magellan's -- Zambia, India, England, Australia, New Zealand, France, Haiti, Ethiopia, China, South Africa, Turkey, Italy, Kenya, Spain, Michigan...

I remember my first overseas trip that was truly a vacation -- Paris, France. March 2009. With our luggage still sitting in the hotel lobby (a lobby the size of a closet) and heads still foggy from jetlag, I and my traveling companions (who are WAY more sophisticated than moi) set off to find something famous to see. Which wasn't hard.

The first building we entered was L'Orangerie, which now houses the entire collection of Monet's "Waterlilies". I didn't know (1) that there are NINE of them, and (2) they're HUGE. It was here I first realized that pictures in books RARELY do justice to the things themselves. And I also realized that it is fun to travel with people who are smarter than me (as one of my companions puts it -- people who are "full of facts").

Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE my books. Anyone who has seen my office knows that immediately. But something inside me is drawn toward a deeper, fuller experience. Sometimes it's seeing something for real that had only been portrayed in books. Sometimes it's stopping to breathe in the smells along with the sights and tastes and textures and sounds of life around me. Sometimes it's about asking what seems like an insignificant question and learning a quite fascinating answer.

When I have those moments (and I don't seek them as often as I should), I generally find myself thinking, "Oh, I wish so-and-so were here. They'd really enjoy this." (Case in point -- remind me to tell you about taking my dad, the lifelong farm boy, to the Farmers' Market in Madison, Wisconsin.)

Resolution for 2011 -- have more of those "stop and smell the roses" moments. I know for sure one will come (literally) in July, when I head to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. REALLY -- if you haven't seen the roses there, go and smell them. Believe me. You will smell them long before you see them.

January moments: trip to Accra, Ghana. Rather than watching an episode of Oprah or reading about women who are working to create a better life for themselves and their families, I'm going to talk to them for myself, videocamera in hand. I'm sure I'll get some great stories.

I wish I could take you with me.