Mishcago

April 16th, Sara Pearl and I boarded a non stop flight to Chicago.  It was about time she met her namesake.  Sara Jane Sorensen Soelberg and I hit it off immediately when she moved into the Edgemont 7th towards the end of High School.  There was something between us that followed us down from the Premortal World.  And that something sparked right back up when I got in her car at the airport.  Just heaven to talk with and laugh with and philosophize with and eat naan with.  

The first day was Tuesday, and it was the *first* sunny day in Chicago that year.  So we took advantage of it and rode the train from their house in Downers Grove to downtown.  I loved the train. I loved that they could walk one block from their cute house and get right on it.  We left the house like 6 minutes before the train pulled in.  We walked around the windy, windy city (Sara informed me that it got its nickname not from the weather, but from the politicians that were all full of hot air).  It was cold for the Texan girls, but those Soelbergs weathered it nicely.  Jenna even had a skirt on.  Which, you know, is drafty.  We saw some brightly painted bikes, and my favorite, the Chicago Tribune building with hunks of rocks and bricks and sandstone and pyramids and granite etc. collected from pretty much every noteworthy place in the world (including Temple Square.  I can just see them jumping over the temple walls with chisels in the middle of the night).  It was amazing.  We saw Millenium Park and the giant metal bean.  I think we figured out it's shape.  We just didn't figure out when the aliens were going to come charging out of it and take over the world.  We got handfuls of free chocolates from the Ritter people passing it out on the street.  We also got free chocolate at Ghiardelli.  I had my first H&M experience and Sara and I bought matching purple striped cardigans.  I also got a white one (because I always need a white one) and a lavender jacket sweater thing.  And nail polish for Eva, which I promptly forgot at Sara's house--a present for Jenna!  Then we met up with Joe (Sara's husband) at Gino's East for some Chicago Style Pizza.  My first.  It was yummy and thick and gooey.  And they put the sauce ON TOP! 

 Jenna and Libby and baby Sara

The BEAN!

That night we went to bed early because I am still like 6 years old and start yawning at 9. Though we did manage to make some dandelions out of yarn and sticks that are now adorning the pink shelf in Sara's room.  So cute.

Wednesday we stayed in and crafted all day.  It was so much fun.  We made Happy Birthday banners out of felt.  Sara is one of the most classy crafters I've ever encountered.  She IRONS the stuff before she puts it together.  She does things right, you know?  I learned quite a lot about how to approach projects from her that day.  Plus we just talked and talked and realized that we have almost everything in common.  Even after 10 years of not seeing or speaking to each other.  We've jumped on the Minimal Running bandwagon, the whole foods bandwagon, the Ira glass bandwagon, the happily married, raising independent children bandwagon.  I felt so strangely at home and comfortable with her.  Just like, oh I'll just do the dishes, dig through your fridge, send my baby up to play with your kids.  I want to be her neighbor.

It had rained pretty much all day on Wednesday (good thing we went downtown the day before!) and all night too.  Thursday morning I woke up thinking, "Man, with all of these thunderstorms, it is amazing that they don't flood!  The ditches would be overflowing in Texas" then I went downstairs and the girls were excited that I had finally emerged-- "LOOK AT THE STREET!!!"  It had flooded.  The street was a river, rising up past the sidewalk.  We kept track of the progress by looking at the back tire of their van and their neighbor's For Sale sign.  It went up and up and school was cancelled,  highways were shut down, flights were grounded.  They even had to reverse the course of the Chicago River to get all of the runoff into Lake Michigan.  It was AN historic event.  They had neighbors out in their swim trunks and coats scraping off the drain covers with snow shovels all morning, and at some point, it worked, and the street drained.  By 12:00, we were in the car headed for a luncheon with some of her friends. The girls got a free day off of school.

 (that's a street under there)

That night, we helped their neighbors a few doors down who had a basement swimming pool.  Three feet of water, easily.  They brought something like 20 loads of laundry over to Sara's and stacks of photos that needed to be laid out and dried.  See why I would want to be her neighbor?  Just not in THAT house. Then we watched more of This American Life, the TV series that she had on DVD.  I got to see Ira Glass for the first time.  He looked much younger than I expected.

One of our projects, besides the dandelions and the banners, were garden markers.  Sweet Sara had mined my pathetic little Pinterest boards for possible projects, and came up with the very one I was most excited about.  And, my classy crafting friend did much more than go to the Goodwill and pick up some old spoons (which was my plan).  She found silver plated gumbo spoons.  They have the nicest shape when hammered flat, and apparently the silver plating allows the stamp to show up.  This is probably why most of my projects don't work out that well and all of hers do.  She does some research.

So we kept trying to make these spoons.  We hammered them in the rain, and then had to call it a night.  Then we stamped them the next morning in the SNOW.  Sorry Mother Nature.  We needed these spoons. Her's said "You Say Tomato", "If You Carrot All" and "Cool As a Cucumber".  Mine said "Pepper", "Zucchini" and "Tomato". Gumbo spoons really are the cutest.

Also that morning, we went on a run, which was so fun.  Sara had some new minimal shoes that she kept wanting to try out and I spent the run spewing out every running fact I could grab onto in my mind.  She's such a good sport.   And to reward ourselves, we walked over to the Bakery on Main Street and bought a bunch of donuts for breakfast.  They were so freaking good.  The girls' school didn't start until 8:30 which kind of blew my mind.  Their mornings were so peaceful and happy.  So unlike ours.  Trying to get four kids up and going at 6:35 every morning just starts my day off frantic and usually it keeps going at that rate.  But her girls woke up on their own, had a nice breakfast, changed clothes as many times as they needed to--all without yelling.  Granted, they are 9 and 7 and mine are younger, but it still added "Late-Starting School" to my list of requirements on where we will settle.

We ate well, laughed a lot, shared problems and concerns without guilt or remorse.  I couldn't have asked for a better get-a-way.

Meanwhile, back at home, Ben and the kids had a terrific time.  I was kind of hoping that he would really struggle and get a lot of empathy for my life and how it is difficult sometimes, but something even better came out of it: He loved being a full time dad.  And the kids loved being with him.  And he got to know Myra the chatterbox even more, especially when she asked him "when is mommy coming home from Mishcago" every 10 minutes.

A fellowship in Downers Grove? Sign me up!