A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Beach

The heat wave we've been having finally burst on Sunday and temperatures were in the frigid 80s, so I thought I’d finally take myself down to the beach.  All summer long I’ve been wanting one simple thing: an afternoon of reading on the sand, falling asleep with the sound of waves crashing a few feet away.  Insert your own Oprah moment here.

Last summer I found the beach pretty quickly, and that was back when I knew pretty much zero about Chicago geography, so I didn’t even bother Google-mapping my trip this weekend.  I figured I’d just wander until I got to the shore, like I did back when I was a greenhorn.

Well, I did wander, and that’s how I ended up the Lincoln Park Zoo for the first time.

I generally dislike zoos.  They’re inevitably hot, crowded, and full of miserable animals who are all like, Why am I heeeeeere?  I want to be chomping on my prey in the African plains/Arctic dessert/other awesome place, not sitting in this cave, eating this piece of grass, watching you watch me. 

But stumbling upon a zoo accidentally, when you’re by yourself and can go wherever you want, is much more pleasant. 

I found this black rhino chilling in the shade.  He got up and ate part of a tree branch and all the kids squealed.

I also found some wild African dogs, and after that I pretty much left because all of the big cats were off sleeping somewhere cool, and zoos are no fun if you can’t see any big cats.

The point is, I was so glad this happened.  I hadn’t been to the zoo before.  And without meaning to go there, I was there, and I didn’t even let myself be like GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW WE’RE GOING TO THE BEACH HURRY UP.  What did it matter?  It didn’t.  Insert another Oprah moment here about spontaneity and accepting the present.

Then, as I continued on my way to the beach, I found several women’s rowing teams.  I think they were racing:

Wow, you can really tell what I was taking a picture of, right?

They made me want to start rowing competitively, just so I could wear a bikini top and look super hot and muscle in it, and I could get in a boat and start screaming and people would listen to me.

Anyhow, I made it to the beach, finally.  And I fell asleep on the sand.

It was a good day. 

What Windows Do

I owe a lot of the last few weeks of my life to east-facing windows.

Specifically, the east-facing windows in my bedroom.

In the morning, when I wake up at 5:45 to get ready for work, the sun has already risen.  Outside, the birds are chirping.  There’s no sun to watch rise, because it’s already risen.  It might as well be 9:30 on a November morning.

As a result, two things: one, I had to buy one of those eyeshades to keep myself from waking up at 5 on the weekends.  And two, my circadian rhythms are all thrown off, and now my body thinks that it’s always daytime and I should always be awake and I should never be tired.

It’s fantastic.

Something has shifted in me with the advent of a Chicago summer.  I go on dates with boys.  I go out to bars with friends and stay for hours and have more than just one drink.  I let myself stay up past eleven.

I’m not being irresponsible, but I am having fun.  Fun is something of a new concept.

In college, I did well, I made friends, I had a good experience.  But I was almost always the good kid.  Now I’m trying to let myself go a little bit.  So I haven’t been running in over a week.  So what?  I’ve been traveling and socializing, which are healthy in their own ways.  My calluses can be built back up later.  Plus it’s a million degrees outside right now.  So, I don’t have to run, and I don’t have to feel bad about not running.

So what if I only sleep four or five hours a night?  I’m not going to look back on the nights I was out with my friends, laughing, having a ball, and wish I’d gone home a little earlier, slept a little longer.

I spent the first nine months of my time in Chicago going to work, going to class, coming home, and being good.

And I suppose I’m still being good.  But I’m living a little bit more.  I’m less worried about doing everything exactly right.

The life that exhausted me a few months ago seems hopelessly boring to me now.  I want to be outside with a bunch of people, just enjoying things.  Anything.  I’m 24, and have decided that being 24 is the very best age to be.

Thank you, east-facing windows, for giving me a wonderful start to my Chicago summer.