Chicago

I am sitting in my (quiet) office with the door closed. It is Tues. morning after Memorial Day weekend and our Chicago trip. I have a slight headache from the champagne I drank with B in the jet tub last night when I got home.

As I sip my coffee I wonder how to start this post.

Expectations can be a funny thing.

Angie and I arrived in Chicago Friday afternoon. We piled into a very noisy shuttle van that seemed like it was going to shake apart with every bump we hit. There was some woman with a complicated name speaking on the phone and had to spell her name every five minutes. There was also a gay man who was talking on his phone about the dog that kept lying in front of the refrigerator. Angie poked me and said, “You need to call r.d.” I felt my face get hot and said, “Really?” and she said, “Yes! Call her and tell her we’re on our way”. I sat there for a moment thinking, “This is it.” You know how I’ve been trying to hold out talking on the phone. So, I dialed and she picked up and said my name. I stammered that we were on our way to the hotel and she said to call back when we got settled.
–whew- I got that out of the way. ok.

We got settled and decided to go to this bar and have some drinks and appetizers and wait for Kelly and r.d. to get there. Kelly was having a flight from hell and we were all worried that she’d never get in.

“Are you going to call her?”

“Yes, yes, I’m calling, I’m calling”

I called and told her where we were and she said she knew the place and would be there.

Relaying this information to Angie she said out of nowhere “You know she’s a redhead”

“What? No she isn’t! She’s got dark, curly hair and olive skin. I think she’s from Puerto Rico”

Angie cracked up. “No, she’s not! She’s got red hair.”

I pondered this for awhile.

Later, Angie jumped up and went to find the restroom. I went up to the bar to get a drink. As I picked up my drink I saw a woman walk by with long, auburn hair. I put my drink down and thought, “This could be her.” She walked by the bar. “Maybe not.” Picking up my beer. The woman came back. I sat my beer back down. She came in and looked around and then looked at me who was looking at her. She said my name and I said hers. Suddenly my tongue felt like it weighed 500lbs. Where was Angie? I said, “Here’s our table.” And we went over and sat down.

Angie finally came back and r.d. received a big hug whether she liked it or not. I relaxed and thought, “Ok, so this is her” I still couldn’t believe it – all those preconceived notions down the drain.

Kelly arrived (and, since I HAD seen a picture of her previously then I wasn't quite as caught off guard.) Her personality was much like our emails back and forth and it was great to finally have the friend speaking in front of me instead of through a blackberry.

We sat and drank and ate and talked until almost midnight. It had begun.

Fast forward to Sunday. We had just gotten back from having brunch with r.d. and C.Love. They both were wonderful hosts the whole weekend. Inviting us to their home on Saturday for drinks, going out to dinner and a great bar afterwards. The weekend was surreal and it all hadn’t sunk in.

Would it?

Back at the hotel I was gathering up my running clothes to go change into (-in the smallest bathroom in the world, I might add.) If I could only run maybe I could figure it all out, put it into perspective, make it seem real. I ran down State Street and made a left and headed for the lake. I wound around and through parks, taking paths and stopping at one point to stick my face in a fountain and get a drink of water. It still wasn’t real. I couldn’t run far enough to put it all together.

Later, I told r.d. this as we were sitting at Champagne bar . (Yes, I am hooked on champagne now!) She agreed that it did seem surreal – like we were comic book characters come to life. Yes, that was a good assessment of it. After that, I put it all away and just enjoyed the time there with new friends, an old friend and just being in the moment. It was a great weekend! I feel fortunate and am still amazed that through a keyboard and computer, bonds can be formed, friendships made, new worlds open up.

I look at the pictures from the weekend and think, “Yeah, it was great!”

I am glad I went!