Chicago | The Frozen Southerner

I’m just gonna come out and say it.

I know some view it as heresy, but one of the best parts about living in Milwaukee is, well, Chicago. No offense, Milwaukee, you’re pretty awesome in your own right, but you’re no Windy City.

Since moving here a little more than two years ago, we’ve made a habit out of going to Chicago as frequently as possible. The great thing about Chicago is that every time we go, it’s a different experience. Each and every visit is filled with new and amazing memories, treasures we take home and tuck away as we look forward to the next spin on the Chicago merry go ’round.

Our most recent trip enabled me to spend time with a cousin who was in town from Tennessee. And it allowed us to check a long-standing item off our life to-do list: to see a Cubs game at Wrigley. So, we drove down to Illinois and hopped on what’s become the oh-so-familiar red line of the L.

Stepping off the train into Wrigleyville about an hour prior to game time is like entering the best party you ever went to in college and finding out they were just waiting for you to arrive. I loved the energy rising off the pavement and bouncing off the walls. In an effort to be a part of this great, beautiful madness, I snagged a Cubs shirt from a vendor across the street from the field, and the husband snagged a beer from Goose Island Brewery – a longtime favorite of his. We met up with my cousin and her friends, and we made our way to our seats inside that uniquely green Wrigley Field.

Wrigley is everything they say it is -you know, that ubiquitous yet unknown “they.” But really, truly it is. Dotting the green seats were fans in blue to the left and the right, in front and behind. Those fans, those loyal-beyond-the-point-of-comprehension fans. And when the synthesized sounds of the organ began pumping through the speakers, I’m pretty sure I swooned. My husband, with his Chicago dog in hand, and I with my Cubs shirt hastily thrown on in the bathroom of a bar after purchasing it mere minutes before – we felt a part of this city and this fandom and of Wrigleyville and of history.

And then we went downtown. And we saw buildings aglow for that other sports team. The city that loves its Cubs so much also has room in its sports-loving hearts to love its hockey team too.