deep dish pizza, the warm sun, the first snowfall, the Sears Tower poking through the morning fog, Giordano's, Johnnie's, Pizzeria Uno, Fox Park, Oak Park Avenue, dancing in grant park, climbing trees, sailing,
people watching, my mom's cooking, Wells St., Cubs games, openly hating the White Sox (I still hate them but no one in California cares), the damp grass, making the first footprints in the snow, the Ridgeland Park sledding hill, the Roosevelt swings, Ashland, the heat on in my car with my window open in the dead of winter, "sweatshirt weather," my dad singing Frank Sina
tra, learning the art of beer pong at age 12 from my 21 year old cousin Danny, Gina's wedding, Aunt Chickie, Aunt Hardie, the fact that everyone knows my name, the accents, the bright lights, summer thunderstorms, the green river, my friends, the diversity, the north shore, Lake Shore Drive, Sheridan Road, the waiter at Dick's Last
Resort, scavenger hunts, the sketchy neighborhoods, places being referred to as villages, hot dogs being called red-hots, mustard, ketchup hatred, Salerno's, my pool, cake-baking, Katie's basement, Eileen's Marengo apartment, Mary Kate's abbreviations, my p-9, Duthaler's trampoline, my doggy, my bed, tubing, Lollapalooza, false unconformity, hipsters, good music, real people, Ed Debevic’s, exploring, skyscrapers, road-raging, 5th Avenue beach, city sunrises, stalking Oprah, the Taste of Chicago, the Jazz Festival, block parties, the honesty, the love, and the respect of my friends and family in the best city in the whole wide wide world.
I don’t really care that what you just read doesn’t really mean much of anything to any of you. I’m sure most of you feel like you’re on the outside of an inside joke. In fact, that
is precisely what I wanted you all to feel; that memories like the ones I’ve shared with you are, not only possible, but can happen for you in Chicago. My friends and I all have this pact that when we’re on our way back to Chicago on some school break from our respective parts of the country, that we have to listen to the song “Homecoming” by Kanye West. There is nothing in the world like this city and nothing in the world that holds the same love that I have for it.
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