Chicago Contemplation

Sears Tower replica

Three years ago, after I had just moved back to Chicago, I bought this metal replica of the Sears Tower at a boutique in Lakeview.  When other people buy an ornament similar to this, they usually purchase a replica of the Eiffel Tower.  But, since I am a true Chicagoan, born and bred, I had to buy one of the skyscraper that had been my urban companion since childhood.  Autumn is approaching, or it would be if I were not living in Phoenix, an area completely devoid of the season.  This is the time of year, along with the Christmas shopping rush, when I miss Chicago the most, the cool autumn winds, the change of leaf color to shades of scarlet, gold, and cinnamon, the vibrancy of the crisp, blue sky.  Soon, the first batch of McIntosh apples will ripen, to be sold at local grocery stores for use in making sweetbreads, pies, and applesauce.  It brings back childhood memories of family outings to Wauconda Orchards to pick apples and purchase apple cider.  Out in the beautiful and comforting Midwestern countryside.  What can I say, I love autumn and miss it terribly.  But would I move back to Chicago?  No.  Chicago is my hometown and I love it like no other, but my place is out West, not in my past.  And when I look up at that spacious, vividly blue Arizona sky, and at the puffy white thunderhead clouds hovering above in impossible stillness, I cannot say that I regret my return to living out West.  Change is inevitable, and throughout our lives we take the best of our histories with us, their residue serving to soothe us in times that are lean in inspiration. To paraphrase Wordsworth, they provide us with sustenance for future years, empowering us to move on.