It's true. I'm cheating on Chicago. When I first moved here from Michigan nearly 20 years ago it was love at first sight--the people, the architecture, the energy. I remember standing in Union Station staring in awe. It was so majestic, and just so urban.
Now two decades and one kid later the bloom is off the rose, and I've started to sneak around and (shhh) explore moving to the suburbs. Nothing has happened, I swear. I have mostly just been checking things out online. And once I went in person. I swear it was just once. OK, maybe twice.
My prior experience with Chicago 'burbs has been pretty limited. I have visited a friend here and there. I once met a guy from the 'burbs at a Halloween party. I kissed him on the roof of my apartment building because he looked like a young Matlock. (My best defense of this is to say nothing.) In the days leading up to our first actual date he regaled me on the phone with stories about suburban antics involving his stolen garbage cans. Or maybe it was just the lids? My friends nicknamed him Olive Garden. This did not bode well for our budding romance.
Then there was the trip to Alumni Club in Schaumberg for Speed Dating. I went with a couple of girlfriends, and our rationale for the trek was that we knew too many guys in the city and didn't want to spend an awkward three minutes (or whatever it was) sitting across from some friend from our volleyball team. This was a super bad plan, since we met only guys who were single in the suburbs by choice, and who were as anti-city as we were anti-suburbs. Plus we were at Alumni Club. In Schaumberg. Clearly we did not think this through.
Fast-forward a couple of decades. I no longer need the city for its massive dating pool. And I just can't see dropping a couple hundred bucks on a night out much anymore since we need it for practical stuff like college, our mortgage, and cases of wine to drink in our future suburban backyard. Could it be that I'm finally exhausted and beaten down enough to appreciate the 'burbs? I do love city parks, but they have those in the 'burbs too. And we go to museums a lot, but we could take the Metra downtown for that. And we would, right? Right????
It would be nice to be in a house, not have people getting held up at gunpoint (or shot) a few blocks away, and if you live in the city you know the issues with CPS. If you think it's not important to go to a decent school, I did not and I didn't know Canada was attached to the U.S. until high school. HIGH SCHOOL! Since we lived near Detroit I thought it was some island east of Michigan that you just had to cross a bridge to get to. Like all parents, I want better for my kid. And that's not setting the bar terribly high.
So over the next few months I'll be sharing a few posts on our internal city vs. suburbs debate. In the meantime, here's what the internets are saying on the topic:
City vs. suburbs; which is cheaper?
An article about the suburbanization of our cities and what drives people away from shared space (I'm looking at you, pot smoking neighbors).
This New York Mom views her son's mugging as a rite of passage.
"Time Out Chicago Kids" organizes an urbanite/suburbanite round table.
photo credit: Chris Smith/Out of Chicago via photopin cc
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