West Michigan Memories - Episode 1

So… I admit it. I feel sort of guilty. I slacked off on the last few New Zealand blog editions and just posted a bunch of picture collages last night. I actually did write a story to go with each of the collages. But, somehow the stories didn’t get saved and I just couldn’t bring myself to rewrite them.  But I've got all the info up in my head somewhere, if you want to hear about it, just give me a call!

I know that I should write. I should keep writing. I should be a writer (Whoa, too intimidating. Let’s take a step back.). I should write… for me, or for fun, or for you (None of those really gets to the heart of it, though. This isn’t some sort of cathartic self-help exercise, I could think of lots of other things to do for fun, and you may not even be reading it for all I know, though I hope you are!). I should write because I can. I can write. I get to write. I have the time and the opportunity to write. I am so lucky to be able to write… and so, I will.

After a brief hiatus from traveling, Josh and I recently hit the trail again. Having gone across the country and across the ocean already this year, we thought it might be good to scale down and go across the state. Josh was scheduled for training in Kalamazoo this month, so we took off a week in advance on a tour of Chicago and southwest Michigan.

‘Wait a minute,’ you’re wondering, ‘did she say training? I thought they were homeless, jobless, modern-day, train-hopping, couchsurfing hippies. Well… I guess maybe Megan wasn’t satisfied with their mediocre hippy skills. She probably signed them up for tree-hugging training to make sure they were doing everything right.’  That could be true. It definitely sounds like something I would orchestrate. But, here’s the real story…

On the last leg of our long and exhausting trip back from New Zealand, our flight from Chicago to Detroit was delayed. So, we had a few hours to spend lying on the floor of O’hare airport in a delirious, sleep-deprived haze. Naturally, we did what any normal, red-blooded American traveler would do after having no cell phone service for months… we flipped on our Blackberries! Lo and behold, there was a message from the Habitat for Humanity volunteer coordinator in Monroe. She wasn’t sure where we were or what our plans were for the summer, but wondered if we might be interested in applying for a 3-month AmeriCorps position with Habitat.


We spent a few days discussing the pros and cons of taking the position. Here they are, in no particular order (and you’re welcome to weigh in on which you think are the pros/cons!):


1. We'd be living in Monroe
2. We'd be staying with my parents
3. Josh would make a small living and education stipend
4. He'd get to put AmeriCorps on his resume
5. He could try out a new position, no strings attached
6. Habitat is just plain cool!

W

Because we had already decided that South Africa was not in the cards, it made sense to try this on for size. Fast forward a month, and we were on our way to Kalamazoo for Josh’s Habitat orientation and AmeriCorps summer kick-off weekend!

Our first stop on the I-94 tour was Chicago. We left home early on Thursday and arrived downtown early enough to get in some sightseeing. We walked through the park, stopped for pictures at ‘The Bean,’ strolled down the (nearly empty) Navy Pier and even tackled the Magnificent Mile, all in one sunny-but-cold afternoon. The city was in bloom - thousands of tulips (from fancy to frilly to plain, from yellow to pink to black) were planted along the city streets. It was such a sight that novice photographers kneeling to snap the posing petals, were tripping up staunch sidewalk veterans on their lunch breaks.  
 

Of course, what's a trip to Chi-town without window shopping? We had to hit up Lego Land, American Doll Place, Hershey's and the Apple store! But I noticed that Chicago is a much simpler city when you don’t have extra cash to blow on ferris wheels, street meat and Filene’s Basement bargains!