Our Infatuation
“Life is a Game. Play it.” - Mother Teresa
December 16, 2023
We danced in front of the bay window on the 23rd floor, in our dark room with just a hint of music. Out our windows: a sparkling skyline, dark sky and the vast water glowing black.
“What would you have said, if you could have seen this a year ago?” The question lingered… then he said :
“I wouldn’t have been as annoyed with my boss”
Yes I laughed…
See.
IT WASN’T: MONEY. DOWN. THE. DRAIN…
A little more than a year ago, in September of 2022, I walked out of my final Mayo Clinic appointment, to Peter in the waiting room, talking to his boss, with his hand on his forehead, in a “this is a disaster” stance. She wanted us to move to Chicago. They offered us a relocation package to do it. But thirty-five years into his career, with a home near octogenarian parents, 5 siblings, a daughter in a Colorado University, and friends made over decades… it was a crazy, untenable ask, to sell and leave our home at this stage of our lives.
But I also knew, it didn’t have to be all or nothing. They couldn’t ask us to sell and leave… we could manage this. Our kids aren’t little, we could Make Lemonade, use a fraction of the package, rent an apartment, go back and forth and enjoy exploring a new city.
I craved the adventure, the new challenge, to live in and explore a city that does amazing things, to live among people who do not look like me.
But he was unconvinced. It would be so expensive… yes, it would cost, but what would we get for that money? What do people pay for HOA Dues, Golf Memberships, Country Clubs, Health Clubs, Ski Passes, NFL Tickets, Mountain Houses? We didn’t have any of those, and two of our three kids were educated by now. This could give us a whole new place for us to live our life, a whole new place to explore, and even a place to share. After decades of being happy members of large families and all the gatherings and activities that involves, this would be a life for Just Us.
He couldn’t see it, and there were precarious and critical things at stake which I respected. So, for six months, I zipped it, and waited to see what would happen next. First, he smartly negotiated for a March instead of January start. And then what happened next was a fortuitous! ultimatum from his boss. We needed to have a Chicago residence in March or resign. From this point forward, so much of what has happened, has felt like Sheer Magic. Almost as if the Universe was giving me back what I had lost in 2021 and 2022. And I was more than ready to accept the gift.
The first of this magical gift - was on the 23rd of February 2023 we awoke in Chicago ready to dive in and see what we could find - and within three hours, we stood astonished, in a sweet little studio apartment on the 23rd floor of a 44 floor building. It was a perch, a perfect, safe, and cheerful Little Nest, in our favorite location - directly across the street from the southern tip of Lincoln Park, on the northern tip of downtown. All we could see out our windows was skyline, park and endless water and clouds that changes constantly and is constantly beautiful. And It was available, it was affordable, and it was ours.
That day, was truly one of the best things that has ever happened to me in my nearly six decades of life.
Within two weeks we furnished it simply and comfortably and we were ready to go. Ever since, we have come here with the joy of children - as the life is so incredibly easy and we have so much accessible at our fingertips. Here are the photos that tell the story.
The Dawn is Bright, and we are Grateful.
Eternal
CHAPTER 2
OUR NEW LIFE
In September, we found ourselves with not one, but two empty nests! What it isn’t is as important as what it is.
We do not own a car. Instead we just have bikes, scooters and feet - to access what we can. We move our bodies nimbly from place to place, mostly on park paths, quiet streets, bike lanes and deserted sidewalks. Wind gloriously on our face… It is utterly joyful.
Also, it is Small. It is All We Need. Nothing We Don’t. Everything about this life is simple and easy.
We now spend about a third of our time in Chicago on 5-12 day trips. Peter is more accessible to his clients in his largest market so he can meet with them with ease. I clear out every morning as our little space turns into his desk and office. I exercise in the park and after cleaned up I take my laptop upstairs to the shared 44th floor, and take up residence with a dozen others doing with same thing. I do all the work I need and want to do. It is a peaceful fleeting opportunity to focus in a beautiful place overlooking the park and water.
OUR NEST:
LIFE WITHOUT A CAR…
...Is one of the most surprising happy things about this life. Millions of city dwellers already know this - but its been new for this Colorado Girl. It has been such a blessing to be out of a car, out of traffic, off the highways. We simply access what surrounds us and what surrounds us is vast.
When I first moved here, I thought - in Denver terms, it was like living across the street from 15 Washington Parks… But once summer came and we could really explore, I realized it was like living across the street from 50 Washington Parks…
What we have access to:
LAKESHORE PATHS
At some point in the late afternoon Peter comes upstairs and lures me away to jump on our road bikes stored in the parking garage. We cross the street into the park ride the half-mile on Lincoln Park paths to the Lakeshore Path where we can fly as fast as we can possibly ride, in our own lane, north along the water by the harbors and parks, where thousands of the cities people are also out enjoying the lake with us – playing volleyball, tennis, golf, boating, walking, picnicking…but we whiz by in our very own lane. Or sometimes we go south, along the beach by the skyline by navy pier and the mouth of the river, by the harbors, by Millennium Park, Grant Park, The Aquarium, Soldier Field, The University of Chicago. Sometimes if we have time, and we always hope to, we go both directions. This city – This “Second City” - is utterly gracious and accessible and spectacular. (And, I would be remiss to not add a note about the midwest people - who are consistently some of the friendliest, kindest, most humble and happy people we have ever encountered… I am convinced it must be because they are so close to Canada…)
We’ve learned so much about Chicago since we have been here. It is named The Second City because of the fire of 1871. The silver lining of the devastation was that they had the chance to build the city again, and in doing so, they made improvements that makes Chicago what it is today.
“The Plan of Chicago of 1909, known as the Burnham Plan—after its principal author, architect and city planner Daniel H. Burnham—is one of the most fascinating and significant documents in the history of urban planning.” https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/764726.html
“Foremost among the plan's goals was reclaiming the lakefront for the public. "The Lakefront by right belongs to the people," wrote Burnham. "Not a foot of its shores should be appropriated to the exclusion of the people." The plan recommended expanding the parks along the Lake Michigan shoreline with landfill, which was done in the early 20th century. Of the city's 29 miles (47 km) of lakefront, all but four miles (six kilometers) are today public parkland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnham_Plan_of_Chicago
Now we are fully benefitting from this vision of a man focused on this city’s planning in the early 1900s… We are constantly in the parks and on the waterfront with thousands of others, never feeling crowded but rather energized by all of the people out enjoying it as well. On Labor Day for example, we rode Lakeshore Drive, closed to cars for the day for cyclists, in an event they call “Ride the Drive” which gives cyclists a chance to enjoy the city from that special and peaceful front row point of view.
All the while, we are Grinning, and staring at each other with a “Pinch Me” expression on our faces…. How on earth did this all just land in our lap? I can’t even count the number of moments in 2023 that we stood back and marveled with giddy joy at what we were doing, what we were seeing, the opportunity given to us. And how can we convince more to consider the same and experience the same? I hope we can spread this idea, and spread this joy. We are endlessly grateful for our little Pied a Terre Nest. 🪹
"Begin doing what you want to do now. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake." - Marie Beynon Ray
2. THE RIVER
The hub of the city is centered around the Chicago River where it meets Lake Michigan
3. THE PARKS
They seem practically connected as one just seems to bleed straight into the next
4. OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
SHARING THE EXPERIENCE
“Happiness is only real when shared” - Christopher McCandless
Right out our windows, in the middle of Lincoln Park, halfway between our window and the water, stands this random and funny little “sculpture”… Sheer Magic.
“Lemonade with a Sugar Rim!” Amy Nelson
“Life is a Game. Play it.” - Mother Teresa