End of Beginning
Much like the recently popular song, Chicago is for me in many ways the End of Beginning. It was from here I took off to Munich in 2013 for my first international venture. It was here I experienced my first real breakup and heartache. And it was here that I always felt I’d return to at some point in my life – like every good Midwesterner does. Chicago has indeed been a launching point for me over the years. Returning to the city now, I approach it with a sense of confidence and curiosity that I’m not sure I’ve felt before. I know who I am and what’s important to me, and I think I walk a little taller because of that. At the same time I also wonder where the journey goes from here. If moving to Chicago is the end of my beginning, what will define the next chapter? Over the years I’ve grown quite accustomed to a life lived in episodes. A couple years here, a couple years there – never fully sesshaft in one place – and yet always feeling that I’d at one point make it back to t...