Ahhhh, Chicago. The Windy City. The lake! The museums! The shows! I hate this place. I moved to Chicago in 2005 with the family I was a nanny for and I'd just spent the past 3 years in New Jersey with New York City as my backyard playground. Nobody was overly impressed with what Chicago offered us. We also happened to move to a sort of Twilight Zone of a town on the North Shore where nothing seems...real. Life is like a colorized version of Leave it to Beaver and it took all of us a while to get acclimated--which is saying something because I'm from the Midwest, it shouldn't have been all that weird for me.
Seriously, if Chicago hadn't been the setting of meeting my husband and starting my family, it would have no redeeming qualities. The unbelievably cruel winters that last six months. I'm not joking, I wear sweaters from October through April (yes, through). The traffic--there are seriously only THREE major highways that go into the city. THREE. In a dang major metropolitan area! That means, if the one that goes in from your direction (and it's surrounded on water on one side so there's only three directions from which to enter the city) is backed up, you're toast. Guess how easily that happens? EVERY SINGLE TIME. Every beach on the lake has a price during the season, and it's extortion to ask for $8 to lay a towel down in the sand, so you can barely enjoy the lake besides the sensory experience of watching it. And the shows? There are like 4 at any given time which, I'm sorry, is pathetic after 3 years of Broadway. And since there are only 4 and it's the only professional theatre within a thousand miles, they book up pretty fast. Don't get me wrong, the shows themselves are great--I'm just not impressed with the selection. And, I can't really complain too much about the museums. I've been to a couple and the aquarium and they are pretty awesome--but still. They're no Met or Guggenheim.
But there are a few advantages of living in Chicago. And one of them popped up this weekend. Grant's parents traveled to Europe on Saturday for a family vacation with all of his mom's siblings and their spouses and as fate would have it, they connected in Chicago with a 4 hour layover. So we headed out to the airport and picked them up and had lunch with them. That little GPS was such a worthwhile investment! All we had to do was tell it we were looking for a nearby restaurant and BAM!
So, it wasn't much, just a couple of hours chatting at Quizno's. But it really hit the spot and totally made our week. We haven't seen them since the family reunion back in July and we got a chance to show off our car, our rings and the joy and major entertainment of our lives--our firstborn's bump! Jackie also brought a notebook with all of the letters Grant wrote home on his mission, which is a very neat family heirloom now.
I get such a kick out of the concept of our family. Grant's and mine. It's awesome.
And I really love being part of his. I have been super nervous about my in-laws long before I was even on the path to having any--before I even met Grant, much less started dating him several years later. That they'd hate me, think I wasn't good enough for their son/brother, etc. Then I joined the church and that complex really got out of hand, me being a tainted-by-the-world convert and all. However, I lucked out with an amazing set of in-laws whom I couldn't have designed to be more loving and welcoming towards me if I had sat down and made a list. So I really enjoy spending time with them, especially because I'm so new and haven't have many opportunities to yet. Not that I'll really get sick of it, either.
The nicest thing we got to show off was...us. We're just so dang happy (seriously, I'm not fluffing it up to look good on a Blog) and it's fun to share that with people.
As we drove back to the terminal to drop them off so they could catch their connection to Brussels Archie said, "Seeing you two has just really warmed the cockles of my heart." My sentiments exactly.
And who knew how delicious Quizno's is?
And it gave us another reason to like Chicago. :) So, to anyone else who happens to pass through, just remember that this is one of the few reasons we have to like it here and are very open to exploiting it.
10 comments:
No way!! Did you meet my mom and sister? And Grandpa? And everyone else? Lucky you if you did!!
There are so many things about Aunt Jackie that remind me of my mom, particularly that smile or hers. Gotta love the Richardson clan.
Gosh, how fun would THAT have been! But sadly, no. We have to wait until next summer to really pow-wow with the Richardsons.
You know whats funny? I live in Los Lunas and go to church with Mom and Dad and see them all the time...and yet I am still jealous that you guys got you hang out with them! :)
I seriously never thought that I could draw closer to Mom and Dad, but living near them as an adult and interacting with them as an adult has done just that.
Now you guys got me all in the mood for a Farnsworth reunion where we can see everyone!
Yes! We miss them so much already! Especially me. They are totally my life line! Whenever I just can't take it any more, Seth's parents are always there for me.
Anyway, I was totally, totally terrified of them and I was sure they wouldn't like me. But they are the most loving, welcoming, accepting people I know and they never get tired of me barging in on them and eating their food (as long as I bring Simeon). They really are wonderful people.
BTW I hate Winter and especially long ones. Sometimes the snow doesn't all melt until June at my parents house :( I'm definitely loving NM
What a sweet picture! You all look great - it's really beautiful of you especially, Ashley!
Wow, I think it's safe to say you and Grant won't be settling down in Chicago. hehe. I think I've heard Grant complain about Chicago as well. This is great news!!!! The southwest is CALLING to you!! Come. Come. Stay. ;o) Wow, can you hear that? I think Colorado is pulling hard for you to move here! :)
You must have been dying when you were in Idaho, there isn't very much to entertain here (unless you love the great outdoors, which we do, but not awesome Broadway type shows or anything). I would like to visit Chicago or New York City sometime, just visit, I'm too much of a small town girl.
That is so cool you got to spend time with Archie and Jackie, they really don't come better than them! Can you believe how spoiled they all are, going on cruises every other year all together!!!
Actually we are both small town people too. It's just that Chicago is a big city and you kind of have to swallow that, but compared to New York it doesn't have many of the fun things about big cities. At least not in her opinion.
Grant, was that picture of the city and the lake taken with your new camera or is it downloaded from the internet?
Cause its a durn fancy picture!
Haha, nope. But my camera could do it.
To get that kind of photo (besides the tripod, which we have) you take the picture in "raw" mode and do your own color balancing. In fact, all high quality photos are taken in raw and perfected before being converted to an image format like jpeg, which basically cements it as is.
Thanks for thinking it was us, though. :)
We couldn't have been happier with you if we had sat down and wrote a list of what we wanted. Love you. Thanks for loving our son.
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