Yesterday, first thing when I got there, I did my best to not get lost as I attempted to meet our realtor, going from airport to the Loop by train. I succeeded. She was tremendously helpful. She took me to four places that we zipped through speedily in efforts to move quickly on a place before another family did. The first one we saw in about one minute, literally, and I had no baseline for what to expect in Chicago. All I remembered were three floors. Once we were done, details from all of the places blurred. We made an offer and got the first place. The one I couldn't remember. What I loved about it: the private outdoor space and the location, closest to the Thompsons and right across the street from an elementary school and a park. It's also a short walk to grocery and transit. Other than that, I went blank. I thought it had a dated kitchen. Couldn't remember if it had closets. Didn't know about the bathrooms. Blur. I rested my mind since I knew I'd be going back today to see it when I would sign papers.
Yesterday afternoon I finally got to Liz's. We went and ate lunch/snack at Argo Tea and got a white chocolate frost tea. Oh, gracious. I can't talk about it. Deeelish. Then we walked over to our apartment, only saw the outside. She took me to the nearest grocery store, Dominick's. Then we went back to their apartment for Theo to nap. That evening we drove to eat Italian at this fun place in their old neighborhood. We had ordered and started snacking on the bread when Theo started getting sick at his stomach. We got the food to go and went back to the apartment. Theo was so sick. Their doctor called with some recommendations that ended up being spot-on for how and when Theo actually got better. Poor Liz slept on the floor in his room because he wanted to be right on his mama. He feels better now, thank goodness!
This morning I got ready and went to my meeting with the lead NNP I had gotten to know over the phone. I walked and got Starbucks for the ride on the train. It took about 40 minutes with a transfer and walking on the arriving end. Once I got there, I met the lead NNP, who was super nice. She showed me their current unit and their future unit, introduced me to some folks, and we chatted about NICU topics that are universally concerning. It was good to connect and keep the communication going. I'm glad I went.
I rode the train back to the Thompsons and rested before we went to our apartment. When Theo woke up we headed over. We timed the walk, just short of 15 minutes. Not bad. I took a tape measure and measured off some rooms to figure out furniture spacing. Liz scoped out the place, and I realized I really like it. It's not run down or outdated at all. Well, except for the wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling mirror on one of the walls of the second floor. It will be a good place for us. The landlord's realtor walked me through paperwork, we forked over two months' rent, and we were on our way. I feel a lot better.
We wanted to eat Mexican for lunch, but it was closed. So we had yummy sandwiches at CBA and did the afternoon nap routine again. I left at 3:45 for the airport, rode the train through the city that I will move to in a month. I ebbed and flowed through excitement and total freak out moments during the ride. I loved seeing the sunset on the river, at 4:13 pm - hello, seasonal affective disorder. Whatever river that is that they dye green. (I have a lot to learn, right?) I actually called their really tall skyscraper the Chrysler building, and Liz reminded me that that is in New York City. Oh boy.
Now here I am on the plane and blogging. I desperately want to kiss and hold my boys. I miss them!! I can't wait to tell Jack more about "pagos" (his pronunciation of Chicago) and show him pictures of our new house and the park and tell him about the choo choo train that he'll get to ride.
Hurry up, turbulent plane! Get me home!
1 comment:
Sounds like a great visit! Hope that the job works out...though we will definitely miss you here! I know y'all are SO excited to be near David and Liz.
Post a Comment