The calm before the storm

I've been waiting all day to blog, and now I get here, and I'm not sure what to write.

I think I can honestly say that this has been the most relaxed weekend I remember in ages. Nothing to do but organize, unpack, and orient myself with my surroundings...oh, and skim the first 2 anatomy lectures for Monday...but that's another story.

I'm so thankful for the calm before the storm.

Friday night and Saturday morning were spent almost exclusively unpacking and decorating my new digs. I'm pleased with how everything came together...tons of pictures, lots of lamps, random reminders of old memories. I have a reading corner, a coffee station, an elevated bed, a mini-fridge, and even a "portable kitchen" (stacking bins with all my kitchen essentials that can be carried down to the kitchenette whenever I cook). It's a nice little room. Lots of light, nice and quite, spacious yet cozy. I got my grocery shopping done, braved my first trip off campus, and found a few coffee shops but mostly got lost in the "suburbian maze" and felt glad to come back to the calm of campus.

Saturday afternoon, after Matt finished teaching in Batavia, he came over and whisked me off to the city. I had figured out enough about the metra system to get us into Chicago by rail (an adventure to be sure, but not that hard after you've done it once). What fun to ride the 45 mintes, observing the many types of people who move in to the city for Saturday night life. One of my favorite things about such adventures is that you never know what types of people you'll see, what little conversations you'll overhear, and what you can learn about a person's life from the clothes they wear or what they carry. Since public transport in the city makes so much sense and is so inexpensive, you see people who are homeless sitting quite near those who obviously live comfortably in a rich suburb. I heard 4-5 different languages in one trip, and saw ages across a lifetime. Its a fascinating blend.

Chicago was our destination primarily for the Chicago Blues Fest, recommended to us by my PA program director along with the command, "DON'T spend your last free weekend on campus worrying about anatomy!!!".

We were happy to comply.

We took the metra to union station, asked for directions from a conductor and followed them...they were totally wrong. After boarding the wrong bus, the driver kindly dropped us at the spot on his route that was closest to our destination and we walked the rest of the way in. The festival spans 4-5 blocks between Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, overlapping with Grant Park primarily. 5 major stages are interspersed with fair food, music and guitar stores set up under tents, and street musicians with a single amp and a guitar singing away. The mood was reminicent of the Decatur Celebration in places, but with a wider breadth of people overall, and, for the most part, an incredibly high level of talent. Brass jazz bands, bluegrass rhythm bands, and slow, sweet new orleans style blues competed for sound space all afternoon. After an hour or so of listening, we headed down michigan avenue and had a nice dinner at an outdoor cafe. Good conversation and wonderful food under the serenade of a street singer whose can got just a little more full as we walked away. Back at the fest, we walked in and out of several shows, but stood for over an hour to hear the night show of Bettye Levette. I'd never heard of her before last night, but she's the older black woman who sang with Jon Bon Jovi at O'bama's Inauguration. She's 63 and put out her first album in 1969...and apparently both then and now she's a pretty big deal. Not only did she sing a good amount of "self history" but she touched on lots of classics from every imaginable blues genre. People were dancing, clapping, laughing...it didn't matter...no one could stand still. I love the ambiguity that comes with a large crowd under a darkening sky. No one cares what's going on so long as they can still hear the music. We all reveled in a shared experience that promoted unusual individuality with no shame. :) What an incredible show.

After a late night, this morning's adventure was to do the first church visit in the area...something Matt and I have been pretty excited about for a while. We did all the research, found directions and times, etc, and got there just in time for the service this morning. Unfortunately, the service wasn't there... apparently Wheaton Bible Church has moved...and to no where in the near vicinity, I assure you. We drove around for quite some time looking for it, and after doing so realized we had missed all the other services for the 8,000 or so other churches in Wheaton. Oops. But, we enjoyed lunch and a little church service of our own, which turned out fine. To be continued next week.

This afternoon, in an effort to start being more active, we headed to Midwestern's Wellness Center. It was completely empty, save a nice security guard and one lonely basketball player. Matt and I had decided that learning to play racket ball would be fun and new...and after calling Mom for her 20 year old recollections on how to play, we started right in. I will say that we definitely need some work...but even when you can't hit the ball anywhere NEAR where it's supposed to be going, playing a life sized version of "anything goes" ping pong is a LOT of fun...and a lot of work. We got good and sweaty, then came back to my room to google the real game instructions. Certainly we were not doing things correctly, but with our lack of accuracy it probably didn't matter. Better luck next week we hope. :) In the meantime, I've decided that very few actions are more satisfying that whacking a racket ball like crazy and watching it bounce off 6 different surfaces. I'm thinking I'll keep this in my stress relief arsenal for future days of "storm".

Tonight capped off the weekend perfectly. Before Matt headed home, I made dinner (Taco salads and Blue Corn Chips) and then we headed to downtown Downers Grove. Unlike the busy, sprawling, concrete mess that I had understood were "the suburbs", we found a small-town feeling city center with lots of trees, older buildings, and a coffee shop where the barista knew the name of everyone who walked in (except us, of course). We got coffee, and began to stroll up and down the many streets...walking past endless adorable boutiques, fun local restaurants, pizza parlors, old style barber shops, art supply stores, galleries, dance studios, and etc. There was an 1800's cemetary, where many of the first townsfolk are buried, a beautiful square complete with an old theater and a old-style diner, and the train station, with a beautiful old clock. Couples kept riding their bikes into the square and parking them in front of the sundae shop. Families with young kids were playing by the fountain and in the park. Teenagers were walking in from nearby residences to hang out at the coffee shops. I take back everything I've ever said about the suburbs being cookie cutter, collossal, materialistic, and boring. I guess I just had never seen anything but the "mall and metropolis" side of them. The Caribou on the corner will be a perfect study spot (just the right amount of noise...good music....$1 coffee on mondays), the small amphitheater in the city park has live music every saturday night (as does the Irish style pub), and the "Cellar Door" has both expensive and inexpensive wines and a beautiful outdoor patio to enjoy them on. This Matt and I did as we counted our many blessings and enjoyed the beatiful evening.

I feel aclimated, relaxed, and increasingly comfortable in this atmosphere. And though I'm intensely aware that tomorrow's start to classes will quickly blow this feeling out of the water, the breath I got to take before jumping off the cliff was lovely and deep enough to last me for a while. What a blessing!!

Tonight my friend Erin called to ask if I wanted to walk to class with her in the morning. Its clear I'm not the only one who's a bit apprehensive. But then again, we've got each other...and we're all about to be in the same storm-chased boat.

Please be in prayer for me tomorrow especially in the afternoon...I'm headed for Anatomy lab, and quite frankly I'm intimidated beyond belief.

Signing off as the relaxed me...and anticipating all that lies ahead...
Morgs