Escape from the Gulag

After six long years languishing in Deerfield I’m finally on my way back to the glittering beauty that is the City of Chicago. I recently received a promotion within my company and I’ll be transferring to our Downtown offices.  It’s hard to describe the joy I feel at my long absence from the city I love. I still live in the city proper but I had to commute out to the suburbs every dang day and it was a mind numbing experience. I was bound to a train schedule for five of those years until I finally had enough of it and started driving. Commuting on the train was only a 25 minute ride but you were beholden to the trains schedule and often times, their delays and accidents. The car ride could vary from 15 minutes to two hours.

I also forgot about the 13 months of unemployment and the year I spent at a Spring and Stamping Company in the neighborhood. So really it’s been eight years since I’ve worked downtown and I can’t wait to get back.

I love working downtown. You can’t help but feel like a part of the action; that every major development in the city could occur right outside the window. All the rally’s and events and shows and sunny days spent using the lunch hour to stroll about the town. I can’t wait for it. Oh, and all the pretty downtown girls.

It’s a funny thing to persevere for so long in this suburban gulag and feel like your life is just a waste and every dream and desire is slowly turning into ash. But with this great opportunity to return to the bustling city I feel reinvigorated. I feel like the sun will shine and everything just might work out okay.

I’m sure in three months I’ll be writing about how terrible the job is and how much I hate everyone riding the train and wondering why everything smell like urine. But for now, I’m pleased as punch. I can’t wait for the first after work drink with all my old friends who are still working downtown, maybe catch a show or a great meal. Suburban Deerfield just hasn’t been the same since they closed the Bennigan’s across the street three years ago.

The other plus is that I’ll be making slightly more money in this promotion and that’ll help out quite a bit. I’m barely scraping by as it is and any monetary increase is easily welcome.  So I’ll have to tough it out here in the Deerfield for another 30 days or so and then I’m off to the big city to re-conquer my lost empire.

All Hail the Return!