Dear Chicago,
Today marks our fifth anniversary. What was I thinking, moving here on a freezing day in January, of all months? Although I swore I'd never move here (while sitting in Thanksgiving Eve traffic on 90-E for two+ hours in 2003), you worked your magic, mostly through parties at the Shedd and the way you have Thai food on every corner, and I eventually caved. And how couldn't I've? You've got it all -- from the lake, the beaches, the museums, the restaurants, the people. When I wasn't here, I felt like I was missing out. And once I settled in here, everything was alright. Well, almost. There was the whole sleeping-on-my-friend's-floor-and-living-out-of-my-car-while-trying-to-make-a-good-impression-at-the-new-job thing for the first month (Old Town, Apartment #1). Then the whole living-with-kind-of-a-complete-stranger-who-is-actually-quite-batty-and-noisily-rearranges-our-kitchen-shelves-at-midnight-when-she's-high thing (Wicker Park, Apartment #2). But once I moved in with a friend (Lincoln Park, Apartment #3), got myself into grad school (again) (more schooling is always the answer), and made a job change, I was really enamored with you. You have so many things I never had in Cleveland, like the El, bike lanes on busy streets, free super glossy magazines like CS, every single store I could ever want squished into a few blocks on Michigan Avenue, Zagat-rated restaurants I can't afford, skyscrapers that get lit up in colors that change monthly, a river that gets dyed green every St. Patrick's Day, Lollapalooza, 50-cent French classics at the Newberry Library book fair every July, a Chinatown that really transports me out of the U.S., all those brownstones ... You're home to the current U.S. President AND the guy who tried to sell his Senate seat ... You regularly have film crews here shooting movies, and then the good old RedEye informs us where all the celebs were spotted so we can start frequenting those places.
You've provided me with so much, including everything from subjects to groom my photography skills to borrowed bounties from the expansive chipublib to unwanted pets (the "Rat Hole," East Lakeview, Apartment #4). You've deepened my relationships with my incredible relatives who live here (or used to live here, including my cousin I "lived" with in Logan Square, Apartment #4.5). You made me feel so incognito when I had that P.O.Box (Address #6) while I hid out from the old landlord after breaking my lease due to the rodent fest. You connected me and my husband via Lake Shore Drive until we changed his bachelor pad into a love nest (South Loop, Apartment #5). And you have the most beautiful church in the world (I'm partial) -- the one where we said our vows last September. I found out just this year, while complaining about your traffic to my husband, that you're like the third largest city in the U.S. You could've fooled me. Between bumping into friends on the El or at Millennium Park, OR seeing my students at Navy Pier (20 miles away from their homes, unsupervised, on a Saturday night, while I was on a blind date), you really had me thinking you're a small town. So, thanks, Chicago. You've taken mostly good care of me. And I'm proud to call you home.
To see more of my Chicago photography, click here or check out my 2008 archives.
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