[ Chicago ] Winded City of Mine
1. Cloud Gate at Millenium Park
2. River North
3. Tiffany Dome at The Art Institute of Chicago
3. Skydeck at Willis Tower
4. Lincoln Park Zoo
5. The Hampton Social
6. 3 Arts Club Cafe at Restoration Hardware
7. The Art Institute of Chicago
8. Iconic Chicago Theater
I never thought I could love a city as much I love New York. But Chicago, you have come pretty damn close to rivaling the Big Apple as so. I stare up into the sky and I sense familiarity in the tall silver buildings, I walk down the streets and I smell heaps of hierarchal cuisines, I look left to right and I'm engulfed by city strangers equally enthralled by bustling life. All this time I thought, I couldn't imagine myself moving anywhere else from NY the way I've built a life here, but I step foot in Chicago and my imagination slowly opens up its barriers to newer possibilities and runs rampant with fresh opportunities. I being to envision a whole new future in which I start over in this subtle city so full of novelty and so wild with serenity, but more importantly, breath dire with hope. Its architecture mounded on history and its character exhaling liveliness and candidness. It's hard not to get lost in this parallel life where my escapes can be realized and to believe there is hope elsewhere waiting for me to absorb.
Sometimes, I daydream what it's like to be as spontaneous as dropping my life and starting over some place else. And most of the time, it's a far away daydream only enough to get me fantasizing while this new place has yet to be solidified into an actual name. But my recent visit to Chicago was the first time I imagined outlines form around my daydreams and colors deepen with the city's culture. And whether it happens or not, it's beautifully reassuring knowing that if all else fails, if I really needed to hit the CTRL+Refresh button, I have just the escape in mind.
Chicago. They may call you the Windy City for your weathering ways, but you winded me beneath my feet as I felt swept away by another scurried city that built hopeful skyscrapers bearing new dreams. You offer the kind of hope that is enlightening to my once-finite imagination and bridge opportunities to my structured inspiration. You reaffirmed that I am, through and through, a city girl at heart.
