Now they're feeding me the seeds

Friday night was a lovely dinner at Handlebar and then a waste of time at a convenient drinking establishment. I can't say I enjoy randomly turning up at Club Foot any more. I'd rather be ignored by people I don't know than by those once close to me. See how it works? You had me, and then you lost me. I'm not going to just hang out and watch your hair grow. It's all quite boring.

On Sunday Nilla and I made the hour trek to New Lenox, Illinois, the town where I grew up and where my parents reside. I go back there about once every two months. I wanted to take her there to see the house I grew up in and the old haunts and halls I once monitored.

Before the sightseeing we had lunch with my parents. I can't say either of us were really nervous, but the anticipation of finally unveiling the girl I've been flying around the Western Hemisphere to meet up with for the past year and a half was all a bit much. Finally, we pranced through the front door and into the kitchen where my parents were waiting. Nilla brought them a nice hardcover picture book that highlighted some of Sweden's natural beauty. She handed over the book and got a couple hugs, immediately accepted. After our little meeting I remember a lot of guacamole and lime-flavored tortilla chips and putting the lime in the beer.

Twenty thousand questions later (all answered in cautious English), we were in the car and cruising the streets of New Lenox. The cornfields looked uncomfortable. The stalks were drying up and craved water in need of easing down towards the dirt to relax and grow. Into Country View we drove, down Jackson Branch Dr., parked in front of the house I lived in from two years old until thirteen. The driveway looked small, the yard was overgrown and the same landscaping was still there, basically unchanged since I left the house fifteen years ago. I wanted to jump out and run around but I wouldn't have come back. I surely would have fallen into the crocodile pit in Brian Kaplinski's backyard. Pitfall!

We bounced over the Jackson Branch Creek Bridge and through the rest of the neighborhood. Having seen enough I headed us towards the high school. It was fucking huge. They've added a whole other gymnasium and what looks like new halls/wings. Lincoln-Way Central High School is reaching convention center sized proportions. I bet the glass blowing wing is even bigger than the piglet dissection wing. Go figure!

Back into the city and comfortable. Chicago takes it down a notch on Sunday evening. It was quiet and calm, not unlike where we just came from. I have yet to make a real connection of my life here and my life there. They are nearly complete opposites. I guess what I learned and experienced in the small towns of my life is foundation to build on while up here; fat to live off of when the seeds don't come up.