My wife flew down on business to Miami yesterday. The corporation where she works has offices across the country, including three in Florida (Orlando and Tampa are the other two cities). She said that she didn't see any real damage from Hurricane Katrina while driving through the downtown area. While on the phone with her last night, she said something that stopped my heart a little.
"There may be a job opening in Chicago soon. Would you be opposed to moving back there?"
We lived in Chicago from October 1997 to August 1998. Before we moved, we had very romantic ideals about living there: walking around downtown at night, going to the theatre, eating at great restaurants, living in a chi-chi apartment, and the like.
Once we moved there, we ran into the most blunt (or would you say that bluntest) reality: the commute. We lived in Oak Park, which is only ten minutes (with no traffic back-up) from downtown Chicago. When we tried to get to work in the morning (she worked inside the Loop, I worked just north of the University of Chicago campus), it would take an hour to get there, and a little less to return to our apartment. We survived a partial autumn, one winter, one spring, and a partial summer before we had to move out. We couldn't stand the commute, and we deemed the city unfit to live in with kids. And so April was able to transfer from the Deloitte & Touche Chicago office to the Indianapolis office (she no longer works there), and I left my job to start anew in a different city.
After being away for several years and having made many return trips to Chicago, we both have said, "You know, I wouldn't mind living in Chicago again... even with kids."
And now, a possibility.... Stay tuned!
Update (9/9/05): The job will not be posted. So no Chicago - at least not for now - one never knows what the future holds...
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