The Pond on the Lake

Everyday on my drive home from work I would see giant waves crashing up against these steps, that looked like the perfect place to sit and inhale life for a couple peaceful moments. I had been thinking about those steps for about a month until this weekend when I finally made some time to take a walk around my neighborhood (that wasn't a walk to a bar). I circled the pond in front of my place only to see two tiny holes in the sheets of ice where seemingly hundreds of geese were kickin' back and enjoying the water. The scene was magical to say the least. I've never really seen a frozen body of water until this weekend and then to see animals at play on and around it blew my mind. I continued my walk while the squirrels and geese and pretty white birds seemed to be playing all around me. I walked out toward the place where I had seen the waves crashing just a few weeks ago. I couldn't find it. I was pretty confused. I took a closer look. My oh my, straight out of Blue Planet (best nature documentary created by humans) the part of Lake Michigan that had been furiously crashing into the coast was FROZEN! I got a crazy giddy smile on my face as I walked closer. In fact it wasn't entirely frozen but the kind of frozen you see in the North Pole where large chunks of ice are frozen in thinner layers of ice. The only thing that was missing was a polar bear and some seals. I just stood there amazed basically by life. You ever have those moments?That was the most inspiring thing I have seen in quite some time.

That story basically sums up the last month in two ways. First, on a daily basis I have been seeing things for the first time. I've only seen snow like 4 times in my entire life and now I'm living in it. It doesn't stop there though. I have to wear thick jackets, the town I'm living in went to the Super Bowl, beer is a dollar a pint some nights, wings are 10 cents a piece, everyone loves sports and every bar plays sports late into the night (central time!). But on top of these topical changes, I also feel like my eyes are open again for the first time in years. You know when you've been walking down the same streets everyday and then one day you notice that funny door or that gargoyle that you had never seen before? Well I feel that way about EVERYTHING. It's basically like I've been given a new set of eyes and I'm hungry to learn about everything. I'm basically like a toddler than looks around real fast and seems like he has ADD about the world around him.

The second thing that story made me realize is the affect things around us have on the things around us. The cold turns the water to ice and then soon the heat will turn the ice to water and the tide will bring the water to the shore and then the cold will make the water ice again. Before I moved, I became somewhat of a thing that was no longer dynamic. I wasn't letting myself change. I wasn't letting myself be altered by the things around me. It wasn't because of a lack of stimuli but rather because I became so familiar with my environment. Anyway, the same way the sun will melt the ice, we have an affect on one another (is that a stretch?). On my drive to work, I drive by this church that says, "Mistakes are Lessons Too." I smile every morning and then I drive over a bridge that used to say "HONK FOR DA BEARS" which would make me smile again. No matter what kind of mood I am in, those two things make me smile in the morning. I have no idea who put them up but they are having an affect on me every morning.

I've been in Chicago for a month now. I haven't blogged. I haven't been the best about being in contact with people and I don't feel bad about it. I needed the last month to open my eyes again. If I didn't have internet access at all, I bet the last month would have been even more dramatic. I really appreciate all the people that have been asking about me and the people that are missing my blog. Let me tell you, I am still getting settled but I am loving my time so far in Chicago. So when the pond on the lake melts, hopefully I will have evoled just as much as it has. My eyes are open, I'm allowing the little things effect me, and I'm hungry for change. Let's just hope I don't get full too soon.