City Girl Out Of The City

     

    You can probably guess by the title that I am moving out of the city. If you didn't already know, I've lived in Chicago my entire life. Chicago, the third largest city in the United States, has been home to me for all of my nineteen years. Soon, it won't be "home," but just a place where I am from. I can't say I won't miss it because I would be lying through my teeth. Museums, good food, and the views are things I will most definitely miss. The things that I will not miss however, are the crazy drivers, horrible rush hour traffic, and shootings on the end of my block. This is pretty much an escape from the city. The city with some awesome people, some terrible people, and that one lady who took my goldfish (yes, you read that correctly and all I can say is that people here are strange).

    Six humans, two dogs, and two leopard geckos are moving out of the Windy City for a little farm house in a tiny town in Indiana. Not even eight hundred people live there. It will be a drastic change from the chaotic and disturbed city of Chicago. According to one of the people who live there, they "finally got a Dollar General." That's how small it is. If you blinked on the highway, you'd probably miss the little town. I am so looking forward to finally having enough space for my little German Shepherd to grow and run. Space to have a party. Space to entertain. Space for sorely missed home fellowship. 

    My family has been wanting to escape Chicago for many years. Escape to a place with room to have people, dogs, and a little homestead. We hope to be as self sufficient as we can one day. To grow our own food. Little by little, as we get more comfortable, we will add more and more to our garden. More to our barn. I'm not going to go too much into our plans right now, because I actually have a pretty big surprise I'll reveal eventually that is involved with said plans. 

If I am speaking honestly, I still love the city. There is still so much to love about the place. The museums, zoos, aquariums, restaurants, beaches, sights, and all my old haunts. You can bet I'll still visit a bunch to revisit my favorite places and see places I still haven't been (again, third biggest city in the U.S.). I've been downtown countless times, worked in a gourmet kitchen on the fifty-seventh floor of Chase Tower and fed the previous Mayor of Chicago, walked around during Open House Chicago (if you have the chance to, do it), and been to the famous Sugar Factory. I've been downtown before the sun rose and people walked the streets and the been in the middle of the street as people honked their horns in rush hour. I've been to the renowned Millennium Park and the lesser known Logan Square. 

    While living here, I've seen some ugly things too. Men chasing another with a bat, cars in a fiery inferno, a factory burning to the ground, and more dead bodies than I'd care to admit. In every Sunday paper, they have a section dedicated to gun violence. Not overall violence, just gun violence. This past weekend twenty-nine people were shot. Six of them fatal. Those numbers are actually lower than normal. Over the years, I got used hearing gunshots echoing in between my building and the one next to mine. I was no longer surprised by notifications on my phone about shootings, break ins, etc., in my area. I knew by the age of eight how to tell the difference between gunshots down the block or fireworks/firecrackers nearby. There was a plan for if someone ever tried to break down the front door. Riots in my neighborhood happened from time to time and I watched business owners board up their shops. This is really all I care to share of the bad and ugly in my home city.

    Beside the bad, I've seen some strange things.  Along with lady who stole my goldfish, I've seen evil birds, near naked people, a man screaming his resume on the street corner downtown, a guy posing as a homeless man in a wheelchair (he walked away perfectly fine and had some expensive shoes), a mountain lion in Evanston (a Chicago neighborhood), and specific people on the subway. There are most likely many more I can not remember. I have no idea whether or not I will miss these strange happenings. 

 Now why didn't I call this post "City Girl No More" or "From City Girl To Country Girl?" Because at this point, I am a city girl and I wouldn't call myself anything like "country girl." Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being a country girl. I just don't believe I will ever be one. I'll always love the buzz downtown and the atmosphere (aesthetically not the actual air quality 😂) in the city. Since I lived for nearly twenty years (oh wow that's weird) in this city, I act like a city girl. The way I walk down the street, the way I talk (most of the time), and the expression I have on the subway belong to a city person. I won't be a country girl. I'll still be a city girl. Just a City Girl out of the city. 

Until next time,

KS

- what is something you like about Chicago?

- what is something you dislike about Chicago?