Back to That Same Ol’ Place

Tonight I took a walk. I was ostensibly running errands, but I found that my feet kept taking me the long way around my neighborhood. I walked past my first apartment here; I walked by my favorite restaurant. It awoke many memories from when I used to run errands on foot when I firsted moved to Lakeview three years ago.

I’ve developed quite an attachement to Chicago, and more specifically the Lakeview neighborhood. It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years; my god where does all the time go? But leaving this place will be especially hard because this is the first place I’ve ever chosen to live completely on my own. Nothing forced me to move here, no job made me rent my first apartment on Surf Street. I chose my home with little regard to the location of my job: My commute for the first two years was 1.5 hours one way! So leaving this place is extra hard. I will miss it.

So this is my requiem for the Soup Box, and The Duke of Perth, and La Tavernetta (thanks for the bruschetta, Vido!). Here’s my goodbye to Intelligentsia and Durkins. Here is my farewell to The Pleasure Chest. Thanks for the laughs, Second City; it’s been fun T.M.L.M.T.B.G.B. Where will I eat Harey Carey chips next summer if not at the Taste, and the L has a charm that the Metro just can’t match.

There are a million other places and a million other memories here. I am leaving behind friends and family as well, but at least I can still e-mail with them. Leaving a community is different because you cannot keep in touch without living in it.

Until we meet again, Chicago…You will always be My City.