Chicago and Beyond

On our only full day off from METE festivities, I went with Jen and Doreen to the Immanuel Covenant Church which has 17 (I think) languages represented in their congregation, and we got to hear Scripture read in Chinese! It was cool. The pastor’s name is Linnea, and she is giving the closing speech at the Annual Meeting this year, which is also cool, but I will not be in attendance, as I will be fighting for my daughter’s rights in Washington DC. I will be there via internet though, as it will be broadcast online. Anyway, back to the story.

So, we went to this great church, followed by a potluck of Filipino food (this week). Daniel and Cassidy came to pick me up, with a passed out Cohen (he’s 2) in tow, and we went to a White Sox game! Why not the Cubs, you ask? Well, they were out of town, and we wanted to go to a game, so the Sox were our only other option. We bought scalped tickets for only $25 each and had seats 8 rows back in center field. Talk about the best place to watch a baseball game! It was so fun to hang out with them and Cohen and see his joy at being at a game. He is used to going to Anaheim Angels games though, so he would periodically call out ‘Go Angels!” and we would have to correct him. It was still very cute though. The Sox were losing badly, but in the 8^th inning, they came back with 2 runs and then got another great play in the 9^th inning: bases loaded, and the guy hits a home run straight into our section! Fireworks erupted and so did the crowd! Of course, they still lost by 2, but what a great way to go out! While we were waiting for the final out, I noticed that there was a sign for kid’s day where kids get to run the bases on the field. We got Cohen right in line, and man, that kid really ran the bases. I figured he would get tuckered out around second base, but he just kept on trucking and was so proud of himself when he finished. It was a great Sunday!

After METE was finished, I took the train down to Naperville where my friend Ilse from high school is spending the summer with her family while her husband does research on dark matter. Hardcore, huh? Well, Ilse’s sister Ellen, also my friend from high school, came up with her little boy Eli from where she lives another hour south of there, so we had a great afternoon, playing with Ilse’s girls Anisa and Rovena and Eli in the pool. Of course, then I came down with either sunstroke or the flu, still unclear, and ended up passing out around 6pm and sleeping til 8am the next day.

I rallied though, and we took the girls to Lincoln Park Zoo for the afternoon. Hey, even on my death bed, I was not about to miss out on visiting the site of my favorite romantic comedy of all time, Return to Me. David Duchovny walked those paths, people. Priorities. I did nearly pass out and had to sleep on a park bench for about a half hour so I didn’t keel over and freak all the little kids out, but I ended up feeling much better later and was able to appreciate the ape exhibit, featured in my all time favorite romantic comedy, Return to Me, among other things like lions, tigers and bears. Seriously, we saw them all, no pun intended! We attempted to pick up some Albanian food on the way home, since Ilse’s husband, Abaz, is from Albania, but alas! The store did not open for another hour from when we arrived there! We had to settle for pita bread and veggies from the Middle Eastern/Mediterranean grocery store in the same strip mall.

I slept from about 8pm to 10:30am the next day while everyone else went to church, but was feeling a lot better by the time they came home, so we enjoyed a nice afternoon trip to the grocery store, went for a walk in the woods by a lake near their house after dinner, and watched Moneyball that night after the kids were asleep. Today we went swimming for hours and the girls made some new friends in the complex, which will be nice for them as they are here for the whole summer.

Now I am on a train, wending my way east from Chicago to Washington, DC, passing through quintessential middle America, and watching the sun set as I spent the past five hours updating my life online. This is all for you, dear readers! You thought I forgot you, and though I may neglect you, sometimes for months, rest assured that I will always update, just not with as much detail as you may desire. Sorry, some things are better left unsaid. Stay tuned for more updates from the road!