The opportunity was there. I just didn't take it. At the time, it felt like too much of a risk. It felt expensive. It felt complicated. And it just felt easier to stay where I was comfortable.
I've regretted it ever since.
And even though I've spent decades making up for lost time, I've never stopped wondering how different my life might have been had I gotten on that plane when I was 20 instead of staying home. The travel bug has since bit me hard. I just wish I had started sooner.
So years ago, I made a promise to myself that if I ever had kids, I would encourage them not to make the same mistake.
Apparently, my sales pitch worked.
This fall, my daughter will spend the first semester of her junior year in college studying abroad in Marseille, France.
And on Monday, we put my 17-year-old son, a rising high school senior, on a plane to London for a three-week summer program studying sports management.
For him, this trip is more than a summer experience. It's his first step toward a goal he's been talking about for years. He wants to study sports management full-time at a university in England. He wants to build a career in football. And ultimately, he hopes to work for a Premier League club.
It's an ambitious dream. The odds are long. But every meaningful dream starts with a first step. For him, that first step was boarding a plane to London.
As parents, we spend years trying to help our kids navigate risk, uncertainty, disappointment, and failure. Yet some of the most important moments in life require us to do the opposite. We have to encourage them to leave the nest. To venture beyond To venture beyond their comfort zone and ours. To embrace uncertainty. To take chances. To trust that they'll be stronger because of it.
That's what studying abroad represents. It's not just education. It's growth.
And while I'm a little jealous that my kids are getting the opportunity I passed up, I'm far more grateful that they're willing to seize it.
Sometimes the best way to deal with your regrets isn't to dwell on them. It's to help your kids seize the opportunities you let pass by.