About Last Night.

So here we go.  Let’s talk about last night, as I sit in this coffee shop trying to focus.  I moved to Wrigleyville five plus years ago with Amanda.  When Amanda and I signed the lease for our apartment two blocks from Wrigley Field, I said, ‘How crazy would it be to live here if the Cubs won the World Series?’ I take back what I said.  I should have said, “How crazy will it be to live in Wrigley WHEN the Cubs win the World Series?” This is about last night…

I made a reservation last week for a table at the restaurant I live above. I had to be in Wrigley if it came down to a game seven.  My friends and I made our way down to our table at 5pm.  It was Wrigley, and it was crowded, but somehow it all felt contained and managed.  It didn’t feel crazy.  During the fifth inning I looked out the window to see Illinois Sheriff busses and police cars fly by.  Chicago was preparing for something they had waited 108 years for.  Toward the end of the game I text my friend who had run up to my apartment, ‘When you come down grab the Chicago flag and bring it with you.’  That flag has been hanging in my kitchen for five years –the last time it came down was when the Hawks won the Stanley Cup. 

The end of the game gave me more anxiety then I could handle.  We’re this close.  Not next year.  This year.  At the end of the tenth inning the bar exploded.  I hugged my friends.  I high fived strangers.  We did this.  Amanda was crying, I hugged her, ‘We waited five years for this… we can move now.’  We all walked out of the bar and went up to my apartment.  We opened the bottle of Dom Perignon that has been in the fridge for a while.  Now was a good time to open it.  We poured it out and drank it on the porch listening to the sound of Chicago come together. 

I’ve said this before, I’m ok with admitting it, I am not a real sports fan.  I didn’t grow-up going to a lot of sporting events.  I didn’t follow any particular sport or team.  I’m not that type of person. Here’s what I am, a kid that grew up on the south side of Chicago.  I’m the guy that got a Chicago flag tattooed on my arm.  I am in love with this city, and last night I have never been prouder of this city.  We kept it together afterwards.  We celebrated the right way.  Tomorrow is the parade and I’ll certainly be at Wrigley Field celebrating, happy that this is the place that I call home.  I’ll be proud that these are the people I get to share this city with.

I lost the Chicago flag last night, but it’s ok.  It served its purpose.  It’s somewhere in Wrigleyville, probably lost in the mayhem.  We were all lost in that mayhem last night.  Maybe that Chicago flag will be replaced with a ‘W’ flag, and someone will certainly give me shit or call me a bandwagon fan.  It’s cool… I know that deep down I’m still a kid that looks at the Chicago skyline in awe every time I see it.  Thank you Chicago… Love, H