Hardwood floors and steam radiators

Let’s face this fact right now—I’m excited by the little things. Easily amused, as they say. But I’m not ashamed. It’s nice to have those times in your life when everything is new, and you don’t even need to attempt to see things from a different angle because everything is different to your still-adjusting eyes. I seem to recall that one of the joys of childhood was the sense of freshness. Things that had become ordinary to the adults around me weren’t completely grasped by me. So, I’d ask unending strings of questions to try and wriggle things into my swiftly developing consciousness. It can sometimes feel unnerving not to know our surroundings, to be unfamiliar as adults, yet it can also take us back to that sense of reveling in the small things that made youth so precious.

The point I’m after is that I live in a building built in approximately 1918 (my roommates couldn’t tell me exactly, but that was their estimate) and I'm excited about it. It’s certainly the oldest building I could ever call my residence. The hardwood floors creak under my feet as I walk through the apartment and, being as I am in love with old movies from the forties and fifties, I try to imagine the women and men whose footsteps shared my path. From the outside, the place looks like it could have popped right out of a black and white movie (let’s face it, before moving here my vision of Chicago essentially depended on its onscreen portrayal.) The building has kitsch and character, which is something I always wanted my home to have (I was insanely jealous of my friend Kim’s amazing old studio in Minneapolis when I lived in my boring white box of an apartment in Knoxville.) And while this particular residence is only temporary, it feels good and fitting for me to be here. (I’m currently trying to find out more specifics about my building and Uptown architecture. Here are some excellent sources I’ve found so far: Chicago Reader and Uptown Chicago History.)

I love this building and I’m excited about steam radiators (yeah, I’m such a dork), but I wish they’d turn on the boiler already! The weather turned cold in Chicago almost the moment the calendar said “Autumn begins.” It was suddenly forty degrees at 5:30 AM and I could barely peel my warm, nestled body from the blankets shielding me from the cold. There sits my radiator in the corner, cold and still and essentially useless. I’m looking at it right now, curled up in bed with my computer, nursing a sore throat and willing my sinuses to stop pulsating behind my cheeks. And I definitely could use a bit of steam heat right now. (I heard a rumor that it’s a city ordinance to have the boilers turned on by October 1st. Apparently, our association missed the memo.)

I’m trying to prepare myself for the frigid Chicago cold from which a mere two months separates me. I’m not sure how I’m going to hold up, considering that I’m already freezing and it’s only October. My mom has always called me a freeze cat, because I’m constantly cold, and having spent two years in Knoxville where their definition of winter is a handful of forty-degree days and half an inch of snow, I feel rather defenseless. But if the millions of other people who live here can handle it, I’m sure I will manage. And it’s all worth it to know I will be here at Christmastime.

You can count on multiple, sappy, detailed blogs come Christmastime. I love Christmas more than anyone I’ve ever met, and cannot picture a more perfect place to anticipate the holidays than Chicago, Illinois. I can hardly wait to walk by Macy’s window displays twice a day, every weekday going to and from work… Wow, it’s October and here I am thinking about Christmas. This is what fall does to me—it brings cooler weather and my mind immediately fast-forwards to December. But I really missed the Christmas spirit in Knoxville. Not only was I much further away from my Midwestern family (and they are more a part of my idea of Christmas than anything else), but also there was no snow in sight, I couldn’t afford a full-sized Christmas tree on my grad student budget, and people just generally didn’t seem to get too terribly into the spirit of the season. So, being back in the Midwest for Christmas, especially being in Chicago, gives me real contentment and anticipation.