Chicago Reflection #1

For my birthday, Kelly and I left our little house in Minneapolis and trekked to the
big city of Chicago for a weekend. Well, she has a work conference here, so it wasn’t
entirely for my birthday, but, either way, that means I have two days on my own in
the big city, and I’m doing my best not to waste them.

I love traveling and being in new cities, it reenergizes me and makes operate on
levels I may not reach in my day to day at home. We visited Austin a few years ago
and I loved the down-home feel mixed with city chic that emanated from everything.
We actually arrived the weekend after SXSW, and the entire city felt relaxed and
content. We slipped in, slipped out and loved every minute.

Chicago, of course, has a different feel than Austin or Minneapolis. It’s more
Midwest with an east coast polish than anything else.

The energy I get from these streets as I visit vintage clothing stores, used book
stores, hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants and a posh downtown Indian
restaurant, is one of active energy. A determination by everyone and everything to
use every moment within the day as an expression of one’s self.

I do recognize that we’re staying in a hotel we wouldn’t normally be comfortable
affording (conference discount) in an area where most stores, restaurants and
homes signify a level of wealth I’ll never experience. I also recognize a lot of the
outward polish and confidence I see comes from that wealth and isn’t always
authentic.

Still, though, there’s a vibrancy here I want to internalize before I leave. One that
would exhaust me if I lived it every day, but propels me when taken in small doses.