Chicago

Sorry it's been so long between posts, folks. I have to write when the mood strikes me or the writing is more choppy (than usual, anyway...) - and then I reread and don't like it. So instead I just write when I feel like it and post before I can take it back.

Chicago was an all out blow-out weekend.

Aunt Tina and Uncle Tom - Thanks for lending us your place. Thanks for thinking of it, since I wouldn't have. But boy did we need it. All of us - not just me. Without your suggestion, we would have missed out on the opportunity to have some great girl-time together.

Let me say first that I never thought we'd make it to Chicago given the unusual amount of luggage we managed to bring. Aside from Lisa and me. We, the master packers of the group, had a solitary bag each, save for a floating pillow. The rest of the group: not so much. And I nearly died laughing when Lisa was waiting outside on her front porch, jumping around from sheer excitement with her bag all ready when we picked her up.

If you hadn't lent us your place, we wouldn't have been able to shop 'till we dropped on the Miracle Mile. We would have spent our money on a hotel room, or worse yet, decided not to go at all. I could be wrong, but I believe in the end there were no less than 3 coat purchases. And one almost purchase. Barb and I got talked into Lucky Jeans. The Nordstom Sale was going on and I went crazy. I got a ton of stuff including one red vest with a fur collar that makes me look posh. Well at least I imagine I look posh. Maybe posh with a little stay-at-home-mom thrown in. But I bought big hoop earrings to offset the mom-factor. Of course once Jake gets ahold of those you shan't be seeing them any longer. So maybe I just look like a stay-at-home-mom with a red vest on.

If you hadn't lent us your place, we would have missed out on eating at fun places like Pops for Champagne, which was our stellar Friday night choice. Or our outstanding dinner at Room 21, where the chef took us on a personal tour of the secret stairway and "Room 21" that Al Capone used. We thought about pizza, and then thought about pizza, and then decided to go eat Thai food because it's a rarity in Sheboygan. Sushi and Thai food are two things the people of this town just don't get. It drives me a little nuts, and I end up looking like some kind of zealot whenever I land in a town that has either one of those.

At your place, we watched Amy stumble out of bed in the mornings, gripping onto her coffee while she endured merciless teasing for not being a morning person. And we formulated myriad inside jokes, which now the people of Kohler will have to hear us say things like "Moguls. Judy Stock! Big hoops, small brain." and go into peals of laughter whilst annoying all around us because they weren't there. You know when you get back from a trip like that and you're all giddy and you try explaining how funny it was when Amy put on a monogrammed turtleneck and plaid skirt at Lands' End (which is against her and Biz's rules) and you're laughing but the person you tell it to only sort of laughs? Like when everyone else is tipsy and you're stone sober: the jokes are only funny to those who roam to the tipsy side.

Speaking of roaming to the tipsy side. We went over to Grace O'Malley's (after Room 21, because of course, I never know when to say when), which is a super cute Irish bar right across the street from Aunt Tina and Uncle Tom's place. Despite the fact that they were out of hard cider for my snakebites, we had tons of fun. Everyone tried on my glasses. I have no idea why, but I was tipsy so it seemed funny at the time. And we made faces like my brother Tom. Every third picture (for pretty much my whole life) of Tom is of him doing this:

Mostly, we laughed, and talked, and laughed, and talked. There is no kind of healing like that of laughter and friendship. Heaven knows I miss Jim with every fiber of my being. I even got teary in Crate and Barrel when I saw the glasses that we've been arguing about pretty much since we got married. (The glasses with the bubble in the bottom) I said yes, Jim said no. We don't have the glasses. Small things like that make me sad. But at the same time, I can't think of a better respite from my every day life. Right now, things are hectic at home. Things are hectic in my brain. The paperwork in my home is hectic. But I had this past weekend to drop it all and just have fun. These are good girls. They are fun girls. And they are all my angels.

Thanks, Aunt Tina and Uncle Tom. Maybe you did know, or maybe you didn't know what loaning us your place would do for me. But it did it. I'm in a better place. Thank you so much.