On Sunday afternoon, I was scheduled to see my friend Aleeza S. from my Cornell years who I had not seen since we both graduated in 1993. However, when I woke up and puttered around the loft for a couple hours, I got antsy and wanted to get going/do something. I was scheduled to take the train up to Evanston, but instead I got into the car and drove to the first ring of suburbs north of the Chicago city limits. These first ring suburbs are old and have a wonderful look about them. The trees are tall and leafy. The houses on big lots, but all of them of different varieties. There is a well worn feeling of age surrounding these small towns of Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe and Kenilworth. I had a couple of hours before I was to meet Aleeza so I drove onto the campus of Northwestern University and took a walk along their beach, which is right on their Evanston campus. I toured through the streets of beautiful houses and also saw the beautiful
The Baha'i Temple in Wilmette, IL
among many other local landmarks. A comment on suburbs. Unfortunately, with the advent of amazing urban sprawl, what we envision when we hear the word suburb is one of planned communities, cookie cutter houses and generally sterile living conditions. But these first ring suburbs just north of Chicago might have fit that billing way back in the day, but today they have graduated to a new, if not more dynamic, conception. Each small town appears to have its own business district with which they encourage people to walk. There are no huge parking lots. Although the houses are on lots larger than one would find in a city, still the houses are close together, thereby reducing "sprawl". What also helped to fall in love with these towns was the beautiful residential homes and the fact that the weather was 75 degrees and little humidity. Every one has told me that my infatuation with these towns will cease come wintertime.
I arrived at Aleeza, Yaron (her husband) and Mia (their 2 and a half year old daughter)'s home in Evanston. Aleeza is one of the most amazing people I've ever known. Back when she was a Freshman at Cornell, she organized an "Alternative Spring Break" where a group of us went to rural West Virginia and did community service. There is no other person in the world who has a stronger sense of civic purpose and giving of one's time and energy to worthwhile causes. In the 10 years we have seen each other, very little about each of us has changed. What was so wonderful was how comfortably Aleeza and I were able to get back into the swing of hanging out.
In the 10 years since I've seen Aleeza, she graduated from Cornell and lived in Isreal for four or so years working with an organization working with Battered Women's Shelter. While there, she became fluent in Hebrew (she's big Jew). During her stay in Isreal, she met and married her husband Yaron. The two of them spent two years in NYC while Yaron went to Columbia for a masters and Aleeza did something amazing (I can't remember what). Then in 1999, they moved to the south side of Chicago so Aleeza could attend The University of Chicago Law School. Last year, she clerked for a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals based in Chicago. This year and next, Aleeza has been awarded a fellowship from one of the major law firms in America to work for The National Center on Poverty Law. Would we expect anything else from Aleeza?
Yaron, Aleeza and I hung out all afternoon while Mia took her afternoon nap. Then, we had a homemade pesto, fruit salad and a regular salad for dinner. But, we had to awake Mia from her nap to eat. There was heated discussion about the protocol on whether or not to wake a sleeping child. Mia's sleep schedule was off and if she slept past six, there would be little chance she would go to bed for good at eight. Eventually the decision was to wake Mia up even though she was still sleeping.
It was a wonderful afternoon and great to catch up with Aleeza. Aleeza, by the way, is eight months pregnant with her and Yaron's second child, a boy. Lastly, I wanted it on the record that Aleeza told me early on the Mia was shy and would probably not be very social with me. Ummm, NO. Mia LOVED me. I have a way with kids........
among many other local landmarks. A comment on suburbs. Unfortunately, with the advent of amazing urban sprawl, what we envision when we hear the word suburb is one of planned communities, cookie cutter houses and generally sterile living conditions. But these first ring suburbs just north of Chicago might have fit that billing way back in the day, but today they have graduated to a new, if not more dynamic, conception. Each small town appears to have its own business district with which they encourage people to walk. There are no huge parking lots. Although the houses are on lots larger than one would find in a city, still the houses are close together, thereby reducing "sprawl". What also helped to fall in love with these towns was the beautiful residential homes and the fact that the weather was 75 degrees and little humidity. Every one has told me that my infatuation with these towns will cease come wintertime.
I arrived at Aleeza, Yaron (her husband) and Mia (their 2 and a half year old daughter)'s home in Evanston. Aleeza is one of the most amazing people I've ever known. Back when she was a Freshman at Cornell, she organized an "Alternative Spring Break" where a group of us went to rural West Virginia and did community service. There is no other person in the world who has a stronger sense of civic purpose and giving of one's time and energy to worthwhile causes. In the 10 years we have seen each other, very little about each of us has changed. What was so wonderful was how comfortably Aleeza and I were able to get back into the swing of hanging out.
In the 10 years since I've seen Aleeza, she graduated from Cornell and lived in Isreal for four or so years working with an organization working with Battered Women's Shelter. While there, she became fluent in Hebrew (she's big Jew). During her stay in Isreal, she met and married her husband Yaron. The two of them spent two years in NYC while Yaron went to Columbia for a masters and Aleeza did something amazing (I can't remember what). Then in 1999, they moved to the south side of Chicago so Aleeza could attend The University of Chicago Law School. Last year, she clerked for a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals based in Chicago. This year and next, Aleeza has been awarded a fellowship from one of the major law firms in America to work for The National Center on Poverty Law. Would we expect anything else from Aleeza?
Yaron, Aleeza and I hung out all afternoon while Mia took her afternoon nap. Then, we had a homemade pesto, fruit salad and a regular salad for dinner. But, we had to awake Mia from her nap to eat. There was heated discussion about the protocol on whether or not to wake a sleeping child. Mia's sleep schedule was off and if she slept past six, there would be little chance she would go to bed for good at eight. Eventually the decision was to wake Mia up even though she was still sleeping.
It was a wonderful afternoon and great to catch up with Aleeza. Aleeza, by the way, is eight months pregnant with her and Yaron's second child, a boy. Lastly, I wanted it on the record that Aleeza told me early on the Mia was shy and would probably not be very social with me. Ummm, NO. Mia LOVED me. I have a way with kids........
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