8 Minute Memoir, Day 3: Billboards

So you've probably noticed it when you're driving on Interstate 90 heading into Chicago but right around the place where the Tollway ends and the Kennedy Expressway begins, there is a huge billboard that has, for as long as I can remember, been occupied by United Airlines.  Seriously, since I've been a kid there have been various bright, colorful ad campaigns for the airline there on the side of the highway, a screen just below displaying the temperature and the time.

For me, this has always been a sign that I'm getting close to the city.  From Cubs games when I was younger, to now as an adult, driving home from my parents' house, it's a nice landmark of sorts.  It also invokes a sense of excitement and enterprise within me.  Damn it if that ad doesn't work every time, too; when I pass by, I often find myself remembering past trips I've gone on, or journeys I hope to take in the future.  I love traveling and exploring and often find myself experiencing wanderlust.  (But more on that, later.)

Somewhere in the distance, the twinkling tones of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" are playing; can you hear them?  This is a reminder, a promise of future journeys...  and the complete wonder and amazement that you can go anywhere, you can do anything.  Though I am currently wrapped up in my everyday life, my workday routines, I know there's potential for good things and great adventures.