So much happened this weekend that I need to write it up by chapter to organize my thoughts. And so, I bring you tales from the city streets. Enjoy.
Chapter 1: Chicago Swallows my Cell Phone
Hot as an oven, vibrant, pulsating with life and music and smelling familiarly industrial like rubber and asphalt, Chicago in the summer infuses my soul with life, heat and passion. Maybe it's because I was born here on a steamy July day, but walking downtown this weekend, I felt one with the city. We are jersey dresses and flip flops and iced coffee and open fire hydrants and sunburns and sweat and ponytails and baseball caps. We are Cubs and Sox. We are proud, tall buildings that stand up to winds and storms. We are families and sisters and brothers and lovers and fighters and friends and everybody and nobody all at once.
It's enough for a girl to get caught up in, swallowed whole by the romance of a sunny day when the world is free and open and bright and anything ...can happen. Well, I didn't get swallowed up. But I was so ennamored with the city this weekend, serving as a guide for friends from afar, that I lost track of time, I lost track of my responsibilities... and I ultimately totally lost my phone.
I first noticed it was missing Saturday morning, apparently discarded somewhere between late night McDonald's and our hotel around 2 a.m. I wondered: Is it somewhere on a street curb, lonely? I wonder if it was karma - The City's way of balancing out the perfect evening with a little unpleasantness to remind me that like the seasons, Chicago's mood can change at any time.
Unfortunately, and much more pragmatically, turns out that someone else has it. They tried calling my parent's house in the morning before turning off the phone for good. Sadly, this means I won't get it back. This also means all my cell photos... including California sunsets, Wrigley Field from the top balcony and my mother dressed in a banana suit... are lost.
So on Saturday morning I went to the Sprint store, where I spent two hours negotiating a new contract (mine was up) and cell phone. I ended up with a pricey BlackBerry Pearl (I had planned to buy one for work, just not at that moment) with an added service pack and insurance for an extra $37/month, but my work will cover the BB pack so the monthly costs aren't bad.
While I didn't enjoy loosing my perfect afternoon and precious time with friends to the Sprint store, I was grateful to have a rainy day fund to fall back on. You don't plan to loose your phone with out-of-town guests in your city. But you should plan to have some extra cash in case you do. My rainy day fund turned out to be more than a cliche -- after I got my new phone, it poured most of the evening, cooling down temperatures but serving as yet another reminder to be prepared for anything at any moment. Because what saves you today might be that layering sweater or the small umbrella you keep in your bag, but tomorrow might be far more costly.
Chapter two coming tomorrow.
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