Of all the obscure song lyrics about Chicago, this is the one that kept getting stuck in my head prior to driving up to visit my sister on Friday. I feel like Will Hoge knows my life and has at least one line to which I can relate at all times. (This one is from “King of Grey,” PS. Gotta give credit where credit is most certainly due.) Of course, driving to Chicago made me want to sing a little Ingram Hill (as the first song on their first album is called “Chicago”) … and after visiting, I understand why the boys want you to come home from Chicago and leave the things that habit made you love.
Don’t get me wrong: Chicago is a great city. However, cold weather, constant construction, terrible roads, and crazy drivers who do not use their turn signals judiciously are all good reasons to avoid the city. The suburbs are super nice, though, and I’m pretty glad that’s where my sister lives. Next time I go visit (and there kind of has to be since I have promised my sister, and there were at least two witnesses), I imagine I’ll fall completely in love. I also imagine this next visit will take place when it’s not forty degrees outside. I understand Chicago is a little further north than, well, a lot of places, but holy mac and cheese, Mother Nature! It’s April.
Cold weather aside, it was great seeing my sister again. I love my job, and I love Jackson, but I hate being so far away from my family. My sister is pretty much the coolest person in the world, not to mention my best friend. I’m grateful she and I can still be close without living close to each other, but that doesn’t make me miss her less. The same thing goes for my parents and my brother. They are my biggest supporters and the most amazing people. I would pretty much do anything to have all of us in one central location again, but that’s not gonna happen. All of the kids are fiercely protective of where we live, and we’re all too stubborn to consider living elsewhere. My family is the reason I will probably never work outside of education — the vacation days can’t be beat!
Anyway, I suppose I ought to try to get some more sleep. I fell asleep watching TV earlier, and now I’m wide awake. I’m sure this awesome sleep schedule I’ve been keeping is great for recovering from my cold. Part of me really doesn’t want to get better so soon so I can prolong my vacation or take some more time off work, but the other part of me knows that the way my life works, faking sick will come back to haunt me, probably in the form of mono or another ear infection from hell. (PS: Having an ear infection as an adult? Terrible. I can’t imagine how unpleasant I must have been as a child when I had all those ear infections.)
Okay, it’s bed time. Happy Easter, everyone!
