With only a month left before I had to leave this big city and move back into my parents house, the list of stuff I wanted to do before I left was getting longer and longer. And so every weekend I made sure to cross things off this list, whether it be finishing the Alias series with Seema, going to Navy Pier, spending money at stores like Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters; two stores I already window shopped at every day on my commute to work, as well as writing poetry in the park, going to that restaurant that had rave reviews, seeing my North Park friends once again while eating true Chicago style pizza one more time.
I don't think it stopped raining that whole last month. I got good use out of my yellow rain jacket. The cold & wet days made me relieved I was leaving soon, but forlorn at the same time that I didn't know what I was going to do after I left.
Once again, I started making a list in my head:
*Graduate from college, step one. I would attend the ceremony of course, but more so out of obligation and a sense of tangible acheivement. Most of my close friends had graduated the year before, as I was a 5th-year-Senior, so I didn't have many last goodbyes to say once I went back to Iowa.
*Find a job, step two. I had been applying to various social work jobs in Des Moines, IA since that was somewhat close to my family (and my boyfriend), and since one of my good friends currently lived in Des Moines. I had gotten a couple leads at this point, but nothing set in stone.
*Decide on a living arrangement, step three. I had proposed moving into an apartment with my boyfriend & another good friend of mine, so it wouldn't upset my parents too much that I would be living with a boy. What actually happened, well, that's a different story.
But now...now was the time to forget my troubles and have fun in this city that was no longer so strange to me.
The last week of our internship, Seema and I had off. We didn't have to work, our classes already had their finals, and we were bound and determined to enjoy the rainiest days. In fact, on one of these rainy days we decided to go puddle jumping. Like two little kids we put on our raincoats and golashes and jumped in every puddle within a 10 block radius of our apartment. We made fools of ourselves while the yuppies watched from the third floor windows of their million dollar townhouses. We walked and jumped until we reached Lake Michigan; and then we ran to the water's edge and stood, waiting for the next big wave in the freezing water to crash down on us. Then we mustered up enough energy to jog home in our soggy jeans, 10 pounds heavier once wet, and took hot showers and made cocoa.
That was one of the best, craziest, and most memorable days I've ever experienced.
And then it became time to pack and make moving arrangements. My parents were brave and moved me out of the "Windy City" just as they had moved me in. I remember how fast we had to move to get everything in their trunk within 15 minutes, since a cop had already told them they were in a "no-parking zone".
And as my dad navigated the crazy Chicago traffic I held onto the stuffed dog my boyfriend had gotten me for Christmas and stared out the windows. I stared at the apartment building that took all my tuition money. I stared at the streets I walked on for five months. I stared at all the stores and restaurants and houses and buildings that became my very own neighborhood for awhile.
I had to chuckle to myself at my nostalgia. It's funny; the things I never thought I would miss became everyday familiarites that I had gotten used to. Like the homeless man in a wheelchair that would yell at me everytime I left the grocery store. Or going to the pharmacy across the street every day to buy batteries for my discman-the acoustic version of "Jagged Little Pill" had become the soundtrack to my life while I lived in that city. I was bitter, I was sleep deprived, and I loved every minute of it. Because it made me stronger in the end. Like a husband that gets used to his wife's snoring....that's how I felt about Chicago. It was loud and annoying...but it became my home for awhile. And despite my better instincts, in the end I had grown to love this not so shy, very big town.
