Fare Thee Well, my Chicago dears!

Three years ago I returned from a trip to Sri Lanka, moved into a one bedroom apartment in Chicago, and said to the universe, while slicing a papaya and squirting it with key lime juice, "in three years I want my life to be different."  Well, it's three years later and my life is changing.  I'm moving from Chicago to East Peoria in central Illinois!

I've lived in Chicago proper for almost 8 years and it's been wonderful: getting my first "real" job out of college, painting crazy designs on the walls with my first roommate, making friends at massage school while learning to cultivate "unconditional positive regard" for people, saying good-bye to the Army.  

I learned it's kind of fun to have an apartment that faced the Redline train, to feel like a fish in a fishbowl on display to the world, but pausing conversations when the L rambles by does get annoying.  Having a yard in Logan Square is fun for playing bocce ball, grilling tofu, and playing fetch with the dogs, but not fun when someone steals your new brass fire pit because the price of copper just jumped, or you learn that you've not been hearing fireworks but gun shots.  

I learned about raw foods and wheat grass, and then how disgusting it is when you drink 6 oz of the stuff.  I learned that trying to have a community garden is a huge commitment.  I learned how to play the cello, then turned it on its side, added two strings and frets, called it a guitar and have struggled ever since--what an infuriating instrument.  I sought out independent coffee shops, dog-friendly dog parks, vegan restaurants, and outdoor eateries and beer gardens in the summer that are somehow distinctly Chicago.  I re-found martial arts in the way of Aikido after a 10 year hiatus and had a love-at-first-beat experience with West African dancing and drumming.  I got over my fears of biking in the city and swimming in the lake at Oak St and Ohio St beaches.  I finally trained for and started doing triathlons and my first marathon, though I ran it in Rome, not Chicago.  I will miss these things and the people with whom I've done them. 

When I first moved to Chicago, I described the city and the earth as wearing a corset of asphalt and concrete.  This is how I felt when I first moved here, like I couldn't breathe, like I was suffocating under tall buildings and sweaty bodies and an endless expanse of road and sidewalk.  I was frustrated that the only "nature" that existed was what we planned or what scavenged our rubbish:  squirrels eating tossed out pizza crusts, birds eating berries in trees we planted, rats in our dumpsters. 

I finally found a sense of peace and connectivity on the running path, my niche in this city, on the lakefront when the temperatures dropped below freezing.  Yes, we can probably manipulate the earth's temperatures and weather patterns, but so far we don't do it on purpose.  Despite every carefully manicured detail of Chicago's lakefront path, the power of Mother Nature's majestic muscle commands respect and awe when temperatures drop.  When you're outside and alone in a city of 3 million with a foot of snow and ice on the ground burying man's landscaping, when your eye lashes have frozen together and you become numb to the pain in your sinuses, when it takes a hot shower and fluffy socks and an hour and a half for your bones to thaw out, you are humbled.  That's what it takes to feel connected to nature in a city like Chicago.  Though admittedly fun to feel so uniquely adventurous, it seems like a lot of pain for a little spiritual connection.  

I have decades of friendships in Chicago that will never be replaced.  Vegan potlucks, oatmeal w/ yogurt and bananas and cranberries, massage trades and almond butter and banana toast, adopting dogs from and then volunteering at the city pound, eating Thai food on the roof deck after a mile swim in a choppy Lake Michigan, post-run cornmeal pancakes, slide shows after someone returns from a vacation, legendary New Years Eve parties, hearing new bands at various small venues...  I love all of you. 

But life is about making choices, and having experienced an amazing re-connection with someone I knew from high school, I'm choosing the possibility of a life with him.  

Stay tuned, my dears.  :)