Could somebody please explain to me how it's possible that of all the places I've been this summer - San Antonio, TX, Washington, DC, and Charleston, SC, Chicago feels the hottest?
Most people blame the humidity here. Some blame all the pavement that greedily soaks up and hoards all the heat from the day (as if it won't be getting plenty of heat the next day). Others would point out that Chicago's on the edge of the prairie, so it gets hit with extreme weather all the time.
Whatever the reason, or combination of reasons, I still think it's ridiculous that the northernmost city I've been in all summer has for the most part felt the hottest. Go look at a map. It'll make you rethink all you learned about climate and weather in elementary school, that's for sure. Apparently, getting further away from the equator doesn't guarantee cooler weather (sigh).
Despite all my uncalled for griping about the heat and humidity - my apartment is air-conditioned, after all - it's so good to be back in Chicago and the North! I just got back a few days ago from a quick trip to Charleston to see my parents. My five day vacation flew by, but it was definitely worth all the traveling to get to see them.
If you're thinking I'm finally settled in Chicago for the rest of the summer...think again.
I got back Monday morning and I leave again tomorrow to head east to NEW YORK!
Just to clarify, "New York" is a state, and doesn't primarily refer to a rather large, rather crowded city that inhabits the southeast corner of the Empire State. Some people get confused over this. Don't let yourself be one of them;)
Tomorrow morning, I hop on the L and head downtown to Millennium Station, where I hop on a train that will take me to NW Indiana. A good friend from my days at Allegheny College lives there, Jenna, and we'll be driving East together. We'll stay Friday night at Allegheny (in NW Pennsylvania), then finish the trip into NY the next morning. Before 11 o'clock AM I'll be standing again in the lovely Bemus Point, NY, breathing in the not-quite-as-lovely breeze coming off the lake (imagine fresh air infused with some nice algae and dead fish scents..).
After a few days in my hometown, I'll return to the Windy City for the next couple of weeks before taking off again.
A few days ago, I realized something a little funny about all my travels so far this summer. San Antonio, DC, Charleston, and soon Allegheny and Jamestown....these are all place I've called home at sometime. Without even noticing it, my summer's nomadic adventures have traced a route that took me to every home I've ever had.
Our homes shape us and leave their mark on us in some way, whether we like it or not. Here are some of the ways my many different homes have influenced me:
San Antonio:
Now I'm not exactly a Texan at heart. And that's putting it gently. However, I've spent the majority of two of my summers since '08 in San Antonio, TX, as a nanny for my (now 8 year old) cousin. I hadn't gotten to know this aunt and uncle all that well while growing up due to the distance between NY and TX, but I found myself suddenly part of their immediate family and taking care of the most important thing in their lives. Now I'm at the point where I half-believe Kirsten's my little sister, and I've taught her the most important things I've learned so far in life: make sure to celebrate Dino Day every summer, and it's fine to be super picky when it comes to dating. She's basically set for life now.
Charleston:
I've spent around 3 and half months at my parents house since they moved there in the summer of 2008, broken up into visits lasting anywhere from 5 days to 2 months. Visiting there was pretty odd, at first, and I wasn't willing to consider it anything remotely close to 'home' at first. There's a weird bitterness I had to get over when my parents moved down here - holidays were now spent in an alien place where I didn't know anyone beyond my own family, I didn't know how to get anywhere down here, and I didn't always feel like putting in the effort it takes to acclimate to a new place since everything else in my life was already so transitional.
Beyond that, all my time spent in Charleston was during that odd phase in life where I was not their little kid anymore but was suddenly a grown-up (or at least was forced to start making grown-up decisions). It's just strange to be under your parents' roof when all that is going on, even if it's for a short visit. Part of you loves the security and affirmation you get from being your parents' kid, while the other part of you wants to show you can manage your independence and strike out on your own path. I had to work through a lot of this stuff internally during my time in South Carolina, so that became the home in which I reconciled becoming a grown-up while remaining my parents' child.
Washington, DC:
This was my home for four months, during the fall semester of my Junior Year of undergrad - from Aug. through Dec. of '07. I was studying International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University in the capital of the world's most powerful nation... exciting enough for you?! There are a lot of things I love about that home, and a lot of new things I got to live out and through. It was my first time living in a major city. I became really close to the class of 14 students who were studying in this program, and we experienced a lot of intense things together, especially our 3-week trip to the former Yugoslavia. We traipsed our way through a region that had been torn apart by war, genocide, and ethnic cleansing barely over a decade earlier, and it changed us all in ways we may not ever fully understand.
After we returned to the US, I had almost two more months in DC to process this and enjoy the rest of my time in that city before returning to Allegheny College. I love the energy, the passion, the persistence, the impossibly high dreams and goals that float around that city. It's intoxicating and motivating, in a way, but can also wear a soul out and make a person lose sight of what actually matters, what's actually real.
I'll leave my processing of my other two homes for another day. I haven't made my summer trips there yet, after all, and I could use a little reminder of all they've taught me so far.
