You Only Live Once, Make Sure It’s Enough

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These past two weeks have been absolutely exhausting but awesome. In seven days time I have been to the Art Institute of Chicago twice, Millenium park on a few occasions, Lincoln Park Zoo, the Magnificent Mile several times, Navy Pier, seen Transformers 2 at the IMAX, seen the Cubs play the Cards at Wrigley, picnicked in Lincoln Park, been to the top of the Sears (…I mean Willis) Tower, ridden on an architecture tour boat,  been to Ernest Hemingway’s birthplace, seen several homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, listened to a Rascal Flatts concert from my rooftop, worked a 40 hour week and probably have walked 30+ miles in the process.

What was the occasion? Back to back guests. My girlfriend Megan flew up here a little over a week ago to see me. Despite our occasional bad luck facing crowds, it was an amazing weekend and I’m really thankful she was able to make it up here. Then this past weekend my teammate/rommate from WKU Ben came up to hang out and explore the city, which was also a great weekend with a good friend. For both weekends, I figured while they were here, they should see as much of Chicago that they wanted to. After all, I lived here, I could see all this stuff whenever.

Megan and I at the Buckingham Fountain

Then I thought…even though I lived near all these neat (and a lot of it free or relatively cheap) experiences, and theoretically I could see them whenever, most of the stuff I did with Megan and then Ben was the first time for me too. I was just as (if not more so) the tourist with them the past couple of weekends, and here I was the “local” one. It took having out of town guests for me to go explore and do something unique. The “it’s now or never” attitude that got me up here initially seemed to have been cast aside due to real life (work, errands, paying bills etc).

I’ve redecided to do something random more often. That doesn’t mean I’m throwing out responsibility with life, money, time etc. Just making a point to do something unique, fun or random a little more often than I had been, say things I want to say, and just stop and look around once in a while.

Ben and I at the Sears Tower Skydeck

The summer will be gone before I know it and a Chicago winter, from what I’ve heard, will more than likely put a damper on city exploration. There’s a lot more to life than 8-5 (even though that’s an important part to life) and I’m intend to learn more about it. What about you?