It’s hard to believe it, but this month makes 18 years that I’ve lived in Chicago. I’m always reminded of the anniversary because every year they hold the Chicago Marathon, which took place of of the first weekends after I moved here. This years race was today.
While I can’t remember what I did yesterday, I can remember very clearly moving to Chicago and what it was like at the time. I was only 24 years old and moved to a city where the only person I knew was a guy that had also moved to Chicago from the same company I was working at in Detroit.
I remember being excited with no reservations about moving. I quickly gave notice at work, put my car up for sale and started packing. But once I got to the airport and my parents dropped me off, the reality really hit me. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with emotion and it got the best of me. But even then I knew I was doing the right thing.
I moved into a nice neighborhood (known as the Gold Cost) that was 2 blocks from the lake and walking distance to my new job. It was a very exciting time of my life and the first two years were especially fun since pretty much everything I did and everywhere I went was new. Within a few months of being here I had a great apartment, great job, new girlfriend, new responsibilities at my job and was surrounded both at work and my apartment by people my age. It was awesome!
I would spend my summers riding my bike or rollerblading along the lake and was introduced to all kinds of new activities (new to me) like going out to see local bands at the bar, heading up to Wisconsin to go mountain bike riding, relaxing in small coffee shops (pre-Starbucks) just to hang with friends, seeing independent plays in the park and watching movies that were not considered main stream at the Music Box Theater. It was ALL NEW and I loved it.
So 18 years later what do I think? While I’ve had good and bad years here, it’s been overwhelming good – and I can’t deny that I’m happy with the way things have turned out. I have an awesome wife that’s given me two beautiful boys and has another in the oven, we own our own small post house, we’re close to Brenda’s family and a easy 5 hour drive from most of mine, and I have a really great network of family, friends and clients all rooted right here in Chicago.
What a great journey it’s been so far, and I feel like in some ways it’s only just begun.
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