The City on the Lake. No, Not the One With the River That Burns
I'm sitting in the lobby of a Hampton Inn in Chicago right now, waiting for it to get a little later and become an hour when decent people might be awake. That is not the hour right now. It doesn't help that I'm operating on East Coast time, while Chicago is more civilized and gets to sleep in an hour more. So I'm sitting here, watching television with a bunch of Chicago police, who are taking a break from the weather.
I didn't come to Chicago for the first time until I was in college. It may have even been after college. I can't really recall the very first time I was downtown. I'm sure it was with people I went to school with, since everyone from the Chicagoland area spreads out into the surrounding Big Ten area to seed the schools. I knew people from just about every Chicago suburb. And downtown was their Mecca.
I remember coming down for 4th of July fireworks for several years, finding a place on the grass and camping out early in order to hold the spot for the big show. I remember long, very long, walks back to wherever we managed to find a place to park the car that day. And I remember stopping in hotel lobbies to find nice women's bathrooms that still had toilet paper.
I can remember going Christmas shopping at Marshall Field's, back when it was still Field's. It probably wasn't the way it was in the old days, a place where you could find things you couldn't find anywhere else. Every big town had those big old family department stores. Jacobsen's, Higbee's...that place down in southern Ohio, the name of which I cannot remember. And the place in DC that keeps popping up on my credit card report that was taken over by Macy's years ago. But Field's in downtown Chicago was a beautiful monument to consumerism and old-style service. It didn't get any better than shopping there at Christmas. I'm sad that it is gone.
And then there were New Year's Eves. The one when I took the train into town, we got kicked out of the bar at 11:55 p.m., someone had to pay off a cab driver to keep him from calling the cops, someone ended up in the hospital, someone did something illegal and I'm not telling any more. Suffice to say that I got home a day later than was planned. That? Was a rough one. And a story for another day.
Chicago makes me think of my parents, too. The time they took me to the Whitehall after I'd broken up with a boyfriend. We went to the Drake for drinks and I met my old friend, Shun, there. We went out to wonderful dinners and laughed and had the one of our last actual family vacations.
Chicago makes me think of being young and just finished with school and having the whole world rolled out at your feet. Chicago is the whole world laid at your feet. It is the best of everything--a really big city with all that entails but peopled with folks who are, well, nice. Everyone here is happy right now. Be that a result of the season, the election of a favorite son, or just the way they always are, there it is.
Being here makes me remember how I used to want to be here all the time.
I didn't come to Chicago for the first time until I was in college. It may have even been after college. I can't really recall the very first time I was downtown. I'm sure it was with people I went to school with, since everyone from the Chicagoland area spreads out into the surrounding Big Ten area to seed the schools. I knew people from just about every Chicago suburb. And downtown was their Mecca.
I remember coming down for 4th of July fireworks for several years, finding a place on the grass and camping out early in order to hold the spot for the big show. I remember long, very long, walks back to wherever we managed to find a place to park the car that day. And I remember stopping in hotel lobbies to find nice women's bathrooms that still had toilet paper.
I can remember going Christmas shopping at Marshall Field's, back when it was still Field's. It probably wasn't the way it was in the old days, a place where you could find things you couldn't find anywhere else. Every big town had those big old family department stores. Jacobsen's, Higbee's...that place down in southern Ohio, the name of which I cannot remember. And the place in DC that keeps popping up on my credit card report that was taken over by Macy's years ago. But Field's in downtown Chicago was a beautiful monument to consumerism and old-style service. It didn't get any better than shopping there at Christmas. I'm sad that it is gone.
And then there were New Year's Eves. The one when I took the train into town, we got kicked out of the bar at 11:55 p.m., someone had to pay off a cab driver to keep him from calling the cops, someone ended up in the hospital, someone did something illegal and I'm not telling any more. Suffice to say that I got home a day later than was planned. That? Was a rough one. And a story for another day.
Chicago makes me think of my parents, too. The time they took me to the Whitehall after I'd broken up with a boyfriend. We went to the Drake for drinks and I met my old friend, Shun, there. We went out to wonderful dinners and laughed and had the one of our last actual family vacations.
Chicago makes me think of being young and just finished with school and having the whole world rolled out at your feet. Chicago is the whole world laid at your feet. It is the best of everything--a really big city with all that entails but peopled with folks who are, well, nice. Everyone here is happy right now. Be that a result of the season, the election of a favorite son, or just the way they always are, there it is.
Being here makes me remember how I used to want to be here all the time.
posted by Miss Head at
4:03 AM
2 Comments:
I was in Chi town last week as well, but left early after my sister freaked out at me about cleaning her house for her "raging Christmas party"...she doesn't handle stress well, and I don't like to be screamed at...but usually Chicago is a great time...I try to set up a pub crawl for myself in a different neighborhood each visit!
By
Anonymous, at 6:52 AM
I remember when I wanted to be there all the time too! Those were the days...except for that NYE. I didn't remember someone doing something illegal or you going home a day later. Odd.
By
Anonymous, at 6:36 PM
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