It amazes me how, every month, Chicago seems to be shrinking in size. As the third largest city in the nation, it’s funny how such a small-town feeling can remain. From random run-ins on the street with college friends and folks from my hometown on a regular basis … to having three groups of close friends—ones you haven’t seen in awhile, even—all randomly choose to go to the same bar, in the same neighborhood for the weekend … to discovering you have several already-existing mutual friends with the person you just met (Facebook plays a large hand in that as well, of course). It’s also nice that, when asked for directions or someone tells me their address, nine times out of ten I actually know where they’re talking about.

Simply stated, it’s nice to feel at home and at peace here in Chicago. It’s a lovely town!