Um, they did. We ran from home to the train station and barely made it. When we got off of the train we found ourselves on a busy Michigan Avenue, full of St. Patrick's Day die-hards. I looked pretty out of place as I pushed my two boys through it all, but I didn't feel out of place. We got to the bridge and saw that green river. Really and truly green.
Green greenie green green!
I had thrown some snacks in my bag before we left and tried to pass those off as a "picnic" dinner. Everything sounds better to Jacob if it's couched in a picnic. Jacob ate his up and then told me that when we got home we'd have real dinner and popcorn. Hmmm.
After a little while we crossed the river again to get back to the train station.
And enjoyed the view below and the view above.
As I walked, I remembered (here comes the introspection) the first time I ever crossed a bridge over the Chicago River four and a half years ago. It was an early fall night and looked like this:
Matt was traveling for work and was able to bring me along. He had spent all day working. I had spent all day wandering the Art Institute and the surrounding streets. While I wandered I started to feel hungry, tired, and nauseated. By the time Matt got back I was feeling yucky. A new yucky. We walked north to a restaurant that served the very best steak I think I've ever had. But I couldn't enjoy it. Then we came back to the hotel to sleep in the very best bed I've ever slept in. Then we came home to find out I was pregnant with Jacob.
I can't believe that only four years have passed since then. I would never have dreamed that four years later Matt and I would move our two young sons to this big city. Or that we'd even have two sons. And I never, ever, ever would have imagined myself capable of an outing like the one we were on.
Several years before I moved to New Jersey (for my mission) I drove through it a few times and roundly criticized it. I think the phrase, "feast your eyes people, because this is the last time we have to see New Jersey!" escaped my lips. Yet I lived there and loved it.
Several years before I moved to Atlanta I was completely certain that my mission call would be to Atlanta, Georgia. Certain. So New Jersey came as an even bigger shock! I ended up in Atlanta later than I'd thought and for a different kind of mission, but it turned into the truest of homes.
And now again, several years before moving to Chicago I had this experience that brought the city onto my radar. I felt out of place and intimidated on my trip back then. I felt a conviction that I was not made for that life. Yet here we are. And it's happening. It's becoming home.
It's cool.
