Every time we land (or arrive in some other fashion) at O’Hare, it feels like home. Only we can complain about the death marches through O’Hare, the long waits for luggage and the trek to the Uber pick up because we are honorary Chicagoans in our minds.

We have friends and family here. All is familiar and the food is great. Pero … (or “but” for you English speakers) then it’s my birthday in June and it’s COLD. Like a breeze that cuts through to your bones cold. Not OK. That being said, I can feel my hair getting frizzier and frizzier as I write this. It’s 94 degrees and humid. You won’t hear me complaining, though. My rule: You can complain when it’s cold or when it’s hot, but not both.

Anyway, back to the siren call. There’s no place better than Chicago in the summerish (except New York but that goes without saying. East Coast vs. Midwest = no contest). We’ve been having a great time since we arrived. We are staying in Lakeview and love being in the city. It lends itself to death marches. Plus, we have no excuse for not hitting the gym since we can see the Y from the very nice AirBnB (with a deck upon which Steven can grill) we are staying in. And we are very close to my wonderful nephew Jake. If only the weather were better. Sigh. Know anyone who wants to live in Chicago in the winter (that’s November-May to Steven (hmmm….I might have said October, but I will let that pass)) so we can buy a place live here in the summer? We’ll go halfsies.

The older I get (not that I’m OLD, although ask Steven about my surprise birthday party next year(I am planning a surprise birthday party for Sue in June in Chicago – but shhhh….don’t tell her)) the more important my friends and family are and we are always happy to spend time with them. I had a birthday lunch, breakfast, and dinner and I’m working on another dinner. (Chicagoans: Go to Libertad if you haven’t. It’s reliably inspired food.)

We hosted our nephew Michael and his girlfriend Monique plus got to see our nephew Jason who now lives in Chicago—at least temporarily while he goes to U of C. Michael wanted Korean and Monique, sushi, but of course, Chicago has the perfect spot: Kim’s Korean Cuisine and Sushi. Ample portions, good food, likely family-owned because they really cared what we thought. BYOB if you care. My college roommate was in town visiting her mother-in-law (hi Terryl!) and I was lucky enough to spend a morning with her too.

Of course, my biggest little brother and his family are here, plus my daughter, not to mention all of our amazing local friends, who are the family we chose. I’m looking forward to a totally social summer full of festivals and food (we have already eaten out 7 times in the last two weeks….and have not been to the same place twice)! I don’t think we’ll be doing an art fair a weekend (but we do have one already under our belt – the Old Town Art Fair last weekend), but we could if we wanted to. Really, there’s no need to decorate the walls of our storage unit.

Switching gears

On a totally different topic: People often ask us about health care. Yes, there are doctors in other counties and some of them are very good and even speak English. Plus, medicine is a lot cheaper. We have travel insurance, but it’s really for travel emergencies when you need to come back here If you have an emergency in other countries, it’s paid for, no questions asked. In truth, all my “main” doctors are in Chicago, so as soon as I know when we are coming back, I make appointments. That’s more because I have a relationship with my doctors than anything, but if either of us needs any kind of long-term recovery, we’d rather do it in a place we can bug our wonderful friends and family 🙂

Another common question is: “How do you do it?” The simple answer is that it helps to love it. We’re natural born explorers who are easily bored and undaunted by the unfamiliar. We also have a clear understanding that things—lots of things—are going to go sideways and we just have to roll with it. (Travel is an exercise in figuring out how to do something you didn’t expect you were going to have to do, in a place you didn’t expect to be, at a time you didn’t expect to have to do anything—and loving it.)