Chicago Recap

Well, we made it back from our trip to Chicago for my 20 year high school reunion and we had an absolute blast!!

As some of you may know, I'm not the biggest fan of "flying" so whenever we make plans to travel by plane, I get a little pit in my stomach that seems to get a little more intense the closer we get to take off. Sure, I know that statistically flying is safer than driving and that hundreds of thousands of people do it each day but that doesn't stop my palms from sweating pools of anxiety on the armrests.

However, all in all, it was a great flight up there and back. But...enough about the flight and on to the details!

We landed at O'Hare in Chicago and boarded a shuttle to take us to the car rental place a few miles away. I immediately noticed (and remembered) the congestion and construction that's continually going on in downtown Chicago and wondered how in the world we'd make it out to our hotel in Schaumburg.

As we pulled into the car rental lot, I noticed a mid-sized SUV (a Nissan Murano) sitting there unoccupied. I secretly hoped we could upgrade into one of those vehicles instead of some smaller cigar box on wheels and my prayers were answered. In fact, not only did they upgrade us to the Murano but for an additional $9/day, we were given a talking navigation system that showed us and told us the directions for wherever we wanted to go! Sweet!

Sure as rain, "Nicci" got us from O'Hare to the hotel in western Schaumburg. We called the nav system "Nicci" because the brand name is "Garmin" and I know a "Nicci Garmon" from my radio days in Columbia, MO. So, in homage to her, we named the nav after her.

Schaumburg is a very thriving place. One of those blended together suburbs around metro Chicago that if you blink you'll drive right through. I knew from living in Northern Illinois that the interstates ran through Schaumburg and it was about halfway between O'Hare and Burlington, where the high school is. We stayed next to Woodfield Mall, which at one time was the world's largest shopping mall.

It was around 1pm and we decided to grab some lunch at the Rainforest Cafe there at Woodfield. After we were done, we thought "let's do some couple shopping time together sans the children". I was expecting to go to any & all womens' clothing shops and maybe a few tennis shoes stores but no. That is not what happened.

We got wild & crazy and...are you ready for this?

We got our teeth bleached at an upscale dental hygienist's office there at the mall.

$400 each.

I thought to myself as I was filling out the paperwork "For $400 I could've gotten an iPhone but noooo...I gotta bleach my teeth!"

After about an hour and a half, we both left the store looking like the Cheshire cat with white pearly teeth and strict orders to eat only clear, white foods.

As fate would have it, the hotel was next to an authentic Chicago pizza place that obnoxiously called out to me, taunting me unmercifully.

Anyway, we left the mall, grabbed a white meal (a white bread turkey sandwich with mayo and water to drink) and headed out to the Central High football homecoming game. Driving by and through some of those old familiar places really brought back a ton of memories, most of them very good. I'd wanted to go by our old home there in Lily Lake but we ran out of time and sunlight. However, as we were zipping down Hwy 47 in the dark, we saw the football lights glowing brightly in the dark skies.

And we soon saw a tradition I'd long since forgotten about...

Every tree on the high school property and surrounding the football field had been "tee peed" or bombarded with toilet paper.

Hey, we were an isolated community with nothing much else to do on a Friday night save for a few lawn jobs.

That means driving your car across someone's lawn in the middle of the night, which we were a victim to many a time.

Jennifer & I got to the game and walked around for a minute or two, trying to see if we could find any of my old buds. As we turned to head to the other side of the bleachers, I saw one of my very bestest of buds Chuck lumber through the gates. Chuck is 6' 10" plus so it's hard to miss him.

Me? I'm 5' 8" and am easily lost in a crowd of preschoolers.

However, we saw each other instantly and it was great to finally see him. His wife Sue would be joining us later that night.

About an hour later, my other bestest bud Scott showed up and it was like the gang was all back together. We hung around and laughed & taunted and showed kiddie pics to each other and even bumped into a couple of our old teachers there at CHS. It was a great night seeing everyone and getting reacquainted.

We left the game after the third quarter and headed to a small bar in Burlington called "Mott's" where each year at the CHS' Homecoming Football game, they set up an outside tent for a bunch of the alumni from all the years to get together, drink and be merry.

Chuck's wife Sue showed up right as Jennifer and I got there and again...it was just a great night to meet up with some old, dear friends. I think we finally left there around midnight even though we had a 30+ minute drive back to Schaumburg. Thankfully, neither one of us drink so getting back was never an issue but was an issue is the fact that there were NO fast food restaurants open at 12:30am near the hotel!!

I think we ended up settling for a bag of Chex mix from the hotel lobby.

Saturday night was the big dinner where my class would all hook up again for a more social, relaxed setting at a nice, casual restaurant. We were able to see a lot of my other classmates who hadn't been at the game the night before and what was great was that my wife was immediately able to connect with a lot of the ladies there while the majority of us guys stood on the other side of the room.

It was kind of a surreal Sadie Hawkins atmosphere at times. LOL

Jennifer even noted how some of my female classmates just made her feel like she herself had been a part of the class. Seeing her enjoy herself with Sue, Annie (Scott's wife) and a bunch of my other "girl" friends (not romantic gf's) made me that much more relaxed and able to let loose with the guys.

I think by the time it was all said & done we closed down the restaurant around midnight and began the journey back to the hotel. Of course we all hugged and wrote down each other's emails and home addresses and began making plans for another reunion in 5 years instead of waiting another 10 before we said our final good-byes.

There's nothing like those friendships and relationships you make that span the years and I am so grateful I have a few of those. I even feel like I made a few on this trip that will hopefully carry us through until the next big reunion, whenever that might be.

So, here's to hoping that each and every one of my friends & classmates find success, happiness, contentment and love that will sustain them through the next chapters in their lives. As great as the memories of the past are, I know that the plans that have been made for my future are even greater.

Jeremiah 29:11

Hope you have a great week!