The other day when the lottery was a billion dollars, a guy at work asked the trading floor where everyone would move, if they won.
It was a great question that left everyone scratching their heads. I knew my answer right away… nowhere.
I’d stay in Chicagoland!
Why do I have to move somewhere unfamiliar if I won a billion dollars?
I know the people, I know their accents, I know their moods.
I love pizza, hotdogs, beef sandwiches, breaded steak sandwiches, Maxwell Street polish, gyros, pizza puffs, TomToms, Old Style, rainbow cones and paczki.
I love being close to the L train, the Ike and LSD. I do miss Sox Park, Soldier Field and the Stadium, Kiddieland, Gossage and Gennaros.
The main thing that keeps me from leaving Chicago are the shadows. I know where the angle of the sun falls everyday of the year on the Chicago grid.
I can always visit Paris and see how the Eiffel Tower casts a shadow. Same with the pyramids and the redwoods in California.
But nothing makes me feel like I’m home more than the sunset on the west facade of Sears Tower from the Western Suburbs.
…and that is why I’ll stay in Illinois when I become a billionaire. A Democrat’s wet dream.
I’m going to build a tall condominium building with store fronts on the first floor. In those store fronts will be a bakery, a flower shop, a diner, a hotdog joint, a cigar shop, a newspaper stand and a tavern on the corner with a Hamms sign over the door. All of my dear friends will have their own condo for the rest of their lives.
I’m going to live up in the penthouse facing Chicago, so I can look at the Sears Tower at Sunset. All the normal people will be on the other side of the building watching the sun settle over the suburbs.
Not me…. The Chicago skyline at sunrise and at sunset will always call me home.
Today is National Ex-Spouse Day. You are very lucky if today is just another day. For those of us that have an ex-spouse, today isn’t a triumphant day.
On this day, it is therapeutic to say something positive about your X.
My ex is very creative with crafts. She makes great steamed mussels and has a beautiful smile.
Don’t be fooled by that eighty handle for a high. The wind will be coming off the lake this afternoon and temperatures are predicted to fall quickly… did I say I love living in Chicagoland?
April is halfway over and the Sox are already mathematically eliminated from postseason. Taxes are due and I’m day 39 into the “Sixty Days of Cecilia.”
I think when May 7th rolls around I’m going to get a Ricobenes steak sandwich, an Oak Park Bakery coffee cake, a stirred gin martini and a hot mommy.
Go be astonished and enjoy the big smile on the sun!
