Happy New Year.

It’s time for the noise makers and the toasts  and the traditional well wishes to the new year 2017. It’s a time of reflection for some and a time of new beginnings.  We make resolutions  each year with the hope that they will last more than a day.

I am still 70, but technically 70 1/2, so I can only hope that the new year finds me wiser. As a child that 1/2 year seemed to make all the difference because we were now taller or smarter or stronger than just 6 months ago. After my trip to Alaska, I know I am all those, well almost all those things, I did not get any taller this year.

I will be forever grateful that he year 2016 allowed me to realize 2 dreams  I never thought I would live in Alaska, since I did not do this when I was young enough to survive anything, who thought that at the ripe old age of 70 I would follow my dream.  I an thrilled that I was able to do this and can only say never stop dreaming to all my fellow wanderers.  This was a hard year as well for a variety of reasons, but I am choosing to focus on the wonderful.

I also managed to live long enough to see the Chicago Cubs win the World Series.  It was touch and go there a number of times, but I am so grateful they filled not just my bucket list item, but thousands of others as well.

My friends, I wish you well.  Health and happiness and love in the next year.

Chicago Christmas

Downtown Chicago has already become very festive, lights are up, windows are decorated and people are starting to get in the mood.  Many people in the Chicago area have traditions that involve going downtown. Marshall Fields was the largest store that had windows decorated each year to tell a story. Many years the animation in the windows was truly spectacular and you rushed to go from window to window to see the story.  Also in the same store the restaurant everyone went to was the Walnut Room for lunch with the children either before or after they saw Santa and to see the 3 story tall Christmas Tree.

The store has now been taken over by Macy’s, but much of the appearance of the store is the same.  The tree is up and the windows are decorated and animated and it is still a destination for many families.

The animation now is not only the figures moving in the window, but the digital photos  used in the displays change.

The tree still looks spectacular.

One window this year is dedicated to the World Series winning Cubs with a logo in the Ferris wheel that is turning in the window.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

 

Joyful City

If you have just come back from a trip to a foreign country you may not know that the Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years.  In the Chicagoland area, it is a pretty big deal.  In the entire country it has been a friendly diversion from our presidential race.

Right now I am staying about 50 miles outside the city of Chicago in a small town.  We do have train service into the city, but it is still well over an hour on the train. Many of the people live and work out here and may take a yearly or semi-yearly trip into Chicago. There is also a segment that travel  there on a daily basis to work. Yet this small town has signs on business all over town congratulating the Chicago Cubs. All throughout town people have the Cubs blue and white “W” flags and signs up in windows and on flag pole’s.

People all around town are wearing their Cubs shirts, hats and jackets. These are usually worn on game days around here, now it is everyday. I have purchased and created enough t-shirts to last my lifetime.  I already had a variety of Chicago Cubs shirts, but now have added to the collection.  I am an unabashed, longtime supporter and fan of all Chicago sports teams.

Pictures are still popping up on Facebook and news showing people in various  ways still celebrating the Cubs.  I was in Chicago on the day they had  the parade and rally supporting the Cubs World Series win.  I was there with the 5,000,000 others celebrating.  I have been to other large events in the past.  I was in Washington DC for the AIDS Quilt laid out on the mall and the walk, I was also there during the Million Man March.  I was in Atlanta and Salt Lake City for the Olympics.  So large crowds are not foreign to me.

I haven’t seen one this friendly and polite since the Pope was here.  As it happens, when there are a lot of people you may bump into others or get bumped yourself.  People simply apologized. We can only hope the kind and joyful feeling here is not diminished by politics and lets hope it spreads across the country again.

Bucket Update

I should start with an apology to anyone who follows my blog.  I have been very much MIA (missing in action) because of the World Series.  No, I am not related to anyone on either team or in management or in any way affiliated with the sport of baseball.  I have, however, been a life-long fan of the Chicago Cubs and can only say “Thank You”  to the team. You have fulfilled a bucket list item of epic proportion.

I  did go to many games as a small child.  My Mom took us on the bus to the baseball field and since I was the oldest of the littles, I got to keep score on the scorecard.  I thought I was all that and a bag of chips.  What this did was instill a love for watching a professional team play in an enormous venue (to a small child’s vision.)  As well  a love for the team playing here.

As an adult I had more choice in the matter.  In Chicago we not only have 2 professional baseball teams, one from each league, we now have several semi-pro teams that feed players into the majors nearby.  And, I have gone to games at many of these stadiums and have enjoyed the experience, but…the Cubs have my heart.

I grew up in a family that loved sports in a city that has every professional sports team around and loves sports.  Chicago fans are legend and we are fiercely loyal to our teams, we also have a long history of many sports teams here.  When you follow a team you get to know the players and coaches and rivalries along with the history. Not all the history has to do with the game being played.  Like the Disco Demolition Night at that other ball field.

I also am old enough, at the ripe old age of 70, to have witnessed a lot of history here.  Many times you are watching history, you are not aware of the implications.  Watching  Game 7 we were aware this was history in the making. I like many others have a hard time expressing just how huge this is for us.

Before the movie “The Bucket List”, I had a bucket list.  Mine have not been impossible tasks to achieve and several have been checked off.  I was able to go with friends to New York and watch the Macy’s Day Parade on Thanksgiving up close.  I have been to the church in Mexico for Our Lady Of Guadalupe.  I got to live in Alaska. I have been to the Grand Canyon, so I have checked off  a number of things. This year two check marks, epic.

For people from other countries, this must seem very strange.  Baseball is one of those sports that began its life in the United States and is very much considered an American sport.  It is now played in other countries and many of our players are from all over the world.  However, it really  has been a part of the history of this country.  And we call it the “World” Series when the majority of the teams are from the US.

I stopped in the Chicago area on my way out of Alaska, and have been riveted by baseball.  I have not always watched every World Series game n the past. Super Bowl many of us watch for the commercials as well as the half time show.  That’s not the same with the World Series, but this year is different.  So many times we heard this is breaking a record, or this has not happened since 19–.  Each step of the process felt important.

Again thanks to the Cubs and Cub organization, this was certainly a banner year.  We no longer have to say “Wait till next year.”