For most of my life Chicagoland was my home. I was born in a suburb, lived in another suburb, spent four years living in the city, and another year working downtown and staying in hotels on the Mag Mile. To say my times to the city are deep would be an understatement and even though I made a deliberate choice to move to Cleveland, I still haven’t truly cut my ties to the Windy City and it’s made it hard to grow my roots in the Cle.
The first year after my move in October 2015, I traveled back to Chicago every week for work. I had no need to find good Mexican restaurants in Cleveland because every Monday (and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), I could log on to Grubhub or walk a few blocks and indulge in chicken enchiladas from Spanglish. Most times I didn’t even have to tell the guy behind the counter my order because he knew it by heart. I had no incentive to find a new favorite New Age shop because I could just head to Augustines or Alchemy Arts and get my fill of essential oils, rocks, and the like.
Worst of all, I had no incentive to make friends in Cleveland because I could always wait a few days and see my friends in Chicago. I’ll be honest and say that it’s really hard for me to make friends because I have to be so extroverted at work that all I want to do on the weekends is relax, read, etc. My pattern for the past 16 months has been to identify something that looks cool, decide I’m going to go, and make a lame excuse when it’s time to actually execute. I’ve not gone to book clubs, I’ve not gone to church, I’ve not gone to a host of activities.
I guess deity got fed up with my lame excuses because about six weeks ago my project in Chicago came to an abrupt end and I’ve been home in Cleveland without easy access to my friends or Spanglish. I’ve had to choose between sitting home and being lonely or getting off my butt and going out to meet people. I have to be honest and say that while I haven’t been great about getting out and meeting people, I have been making an effort. I’ve gone to Indivisible Meetings, meetings at our library, and concerts. I can’t say that I’ve made friends, but I am putting the energy out there.
My son is on his way to Chicago for the weekend and he invited me to go with him. It wouldn’t have cost much as he was going anyway and I have enough points to stay in a hotel for free and I really wanted my Spanglish. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that going to Chicago for the weekend would give me another excuse to put off moving my heart out of Chicago and into Cleveland. Going to Chicago would mean I’d get to hang out with friends and could put off meeting new friends, I could go to restaurants I know I’m going to love, I could explore neighborhoods that I know well. And doing all those things, would mean my incentive to move my heart to Cleveland would be delayed yet again.
As hard as it was to say no to a quick trip to Chitown, I’m choosing to cut the cord and say no to spending time in my old hometown and yes to spending time in my new hometown. I’ve even gotten out the calendar and started circling events that look interesting and getting my butt up off the couch and out the door.
Cairn by Cairn 