. . . Traffic was terrible and I needed to NOT stall out in Chicago. ..b/c getting horns blown at me makes me totally lose it like Dionne on the freeway.
. . . and I wasn't trying to show up all puffy-eyed and dehydrated for my first day of my new job. Nothing says 'competent hire' like some busted eye blood vessels.
. . . and with tolls scattered through Illinois and Indiana, it was too much trouble to start crying and quit crying for every one.
I was leaving a job I loved, friends who had become family and a neighborhood where I wanted to raise children. In just two years, Milwaukee had become home.
Since we left, I've hoped we could go back, if only for a vacation - I know, I know.. vacation in Milwaukee? - so when Brandon told me that we'd be going to Chicago for a week this March, I jumped at the chance to drive an hour north. Back home.
I knew that it would be different, because everything changes, and that, quite possibly, the changes would make me love it less.
WRONG.
Love! Reminds me of one of my fav quotes from Waynes World:
ReplyDeletePete: Hey, isn't "Milwaukee" an Indian name?
Alice Cooper: Yes, Pete, it is. In fact , it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land."
I feel the same way about the 3 months I lived in Tirana, Albania. I can always say I lived in Paris, but the few friends I was able to make in Paris (turns out a super duper anti-social embassy, inspite of its ginormous size), could never top the friends I still have today from Albania. We briefly visited for vacay 2 yrs ago, and it felt so oddly familiar and comforting. Doesn't matter how swanky the locale, if it doesn't have a sense of community and friendship it's never going seize a piece of your heart.
I hope you had a great time! We were just in Chicago and had a blast with friends.
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