Three years ago today I told dozens of colleagues that I’d see them in three weeks maybe four weeks at the most.
Three years ago today I worked on the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade for the last time. Covid closed the few remaining trading pits that still screamed. The grain markets never traded in an open outcry arena again.
Just a couple months prior was the beginning of the 2020’s. On that January 1st I was able to say that I worked on the trading floor for five decades.
1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s and 2020’s. Albeit I only worked just over two months in the final decade.
I went from being a college student running orders to a divorced dad filling orders. Those five decades gave me a career, friendship and even a marriage.
I shook hands with Presidents, Governors, Mayors, Aldermen, Bears, Sox, Cubs, Blackhawks and even Joe DiMaggio stopped by and shook my hand.
I stood in the pit on a Tuesday morning in September of 2001 when planes fell out of the sky. We didn’t know what the next target was going to be. It felt like eternity until they finally stopped the trading session. I bolted for the Congress el and got out of the city.
I have a book of memories that I can pull from. My career went from standing in a pit with hundreds of people to standing at a desk with a few dozen.
Three years ago today ended a Chicago bedrock that lasted over one hundred and fifty years.
I never again would see most of those people that I told to be safe and that I would see in April.
The last trading floor that I worked on was sold to ComEd for pennies on the dollar.
A sad ending to a tradition that raised many families and enabled them to send their kids to college. A Chicago legacy that employed thousands of people and fed dozens of businesses.
The weekend has quickly ended. Several inches of snow ended up being just a dusting. NCAA brackets are set and the Ides of March is upon us.
Take a moment to read today’s quote. Life changes quickly, life gets older quickly… leave a trail of positive energy across a landscape of darkness.
