Secondhand Sleuth

April has been mild and I have been enjoying the beautiful city of Chicago. I have never regretted moving to this city at the end of 1996. I was not made for small town life. Give me the sights, sounds and strangers of a world-class metropolis! In 2009 we moved to the suburbs, and I love Oak Park, but I’m glad we are just 3 blocks from the city limits and right on an elevated train line.

Last Saturday I joined the Hands Off! protests against the current Republican administration. There was a showing of more than 1,000 at the event in Oak Park, but I got some friends together to go down to Daley Plaza and march with 30,000 of our fellow dissenters to the federal building. I took the green line L to meet my friends and walked a few miles carrying my sign, so by the end of the day my body was tired and sore. But it was well worth it to express our opposition.

Last night I was in the city for a very different event, Hell in a Handbag‘s production of David Cerda’s Scary Town! It was the semi-autobiographical tale of a kid who doesn’t fit in to his small village and runs away to Big Town to find who he is. Just like me! Kathy, Amy and I enjoyed it and it gave us a needed break from craziness at work and busyness at home. HIAH is my favorite theater company and I always love to see the amazing Ed Jones, who played Mrs. Wanda Water Buffalo.

Today was another trip to the city for Record Store Day. Simon had a dentist appointment and then we went to a hot dog place before heading to Reckless Records in Wicker Park. We each found a few great items. It’s amazing how used records have gained so much value since my days of shopping at 2nd Hand Tunes—now CDs are the bargain.

I’m glad that Jim and Simon share my love of cities. We had our best family vacation ever last year in New York, navigating the subway and sampling all the local fare. Simon and I spent our spring break visiting Green Bay with Aimee. And in July we will head to Minneapolis, a city that will be brand new to us. I can’t wait!