Twenty years ago today, we drove out of Uptown Chicago

Morning, Glories.

Nood with no news is good gnus?

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Twenty years ago today, we drove out of Uptown Chicago with three preadolescent kids and truck full of worldly goods, heading for a new life in rural-ish Oklahoma.

When Sefton talks about the good & bad of NYC, this adopted Chicago son appreciates both. Dearly miss the good, although a lot is 'good old days,' gone now, including my M-i-L St. 'Bubby.' Milady has deep roots there, and it's where all my children were born, and where our new little family enjoyed home, neighbors, parks, beaches, museums, air shows, food faires, fireworks from the top of the Hancock, Greek Islands so often our daughter was treated like family (they insisted she would become their lawyer!), and most importantly, much extended family. Milady's clan was close and joyous, lots of cousins.

No regrets about the move per se. We did it all wrong. We still haven't fully recovered, haven't really established ourselves as we had been in the Big Potato. At this point, maybe we never will. I wish I'd had the wisdom then that I gleaned from failures. I wish we'd been able to unpack all our books! Life got... smaller, but much more complicated.

Still, I suppose, just like becoming a parent, if we'd waited until we were ready, we'd probably still be there. None of the now-adult kids seems anxious to swim back upstream to live in their spawning ground. Or vote Regressive. So, there's that.

And if I were there, this fuzzy yellow kitty would have walked up on an empty house: instead he's in my lap. That, too. Plus exciting 4am coyote howls:

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