Together Again

Chicago
Carl Sandburg

Hog Butcher for the World
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler:
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with a tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding.

With open arms and enthusiastic hugs we were welcomed back to Chicago, a city whose streets - Dakin, Drummond, Diversey, Austin, La Salle - I have walked too many times to count and which I esteem as sacred places, overflowing with memories tucked into my heart. Three years ago, our then family of three left this city confident that it was time to go. And though many of my precious friends had likewise departed to other places like Indianapolis and Chesterton, Indiana, many who over the years had become like family remained in Chicago. We returned last Friday, the first time in almost a year, to these dear ones and generously they carved out time from their lives, opened up their homes, and laughed with us as we reminisced about old times and created new memories. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you to our beloved Mauretta who still cannot remember where we live - Rockford? Des Moines? Thank you to our gracious hosts, Greg and Marian (who my youngest two now call "MiMi," much to Greg's chagrin), to Aunt Carrie, and to the McCarthy crew. Thank you to the lovely Matushka Stephanie whose big hugs and sincerity of heart causes me to feel that no matter how long we have been gone from Christ the Savior, we are never forgotten but instead always missed, always loved, and always welcome back. Thank you all for carousel rides at Lincoln Park Zoo, late night dinners and home cooked meals, a day of splashing at Millenium Park (both in the rain and in the fountains), and most of all for loving our family despite its craziness.