In my home I have a map. A huge wall map covered with stickers, with each sticker representing a spot I've visited. For a location to earn a spot on the map I need to have either eaten, slept, or gone to the restroom there. I have long stopped counting how many places are marked.
Chicago is one place that is marked. Ate there? Yes. Slept there? No. Gone to the restroom there? Yes. All in the Chicago airport. It has always been a stop over on the way to someplace else. My husband has been there for business and enjoyed it but Chicago hasn't ever really been a destination location for me.
But lately I have been wondering if it is a place I am meant to go. Someone at work had mentioned how much they would love to go to Chicago. And since that day the number of Chicago references I have noticed has been astounding.
On that very first day after hearing that person's enthusiasm about Chicago -on my way home, stuck in traffic - I heard on the radio that Oprah was closing down her studio in Chicago.
That same night on my Yahoo page there was reference again to Oprah.
Then when I went to book an Amtrak trip what would appear on the booking page but an advertisement for lowered fares to Chicago?
Another day in an email Chicago pops up again.
One of the people I follow on Twitter has something going on in Chicago.
Another day, another person from Twitter that I follow, another Chicago.
Out to eat at the Village in Meridian and what appears?
Sitting down to watch a couple minutes of TV with hubby. Chicago on the movie. Then the nightly news talking about Chicago dying the river green for St. Patrick's Day. And a man in a Chicago Cubs tshirt in the Mexican restaurant.
Then we get on this Amtrak train from Seattle to LA. The faucet manufacturer in the restroom? Yep.
With all this Chicago in just the last couple weeks I'm guessing this means at some point I will be going to Chicago. Too many coincidences for me not to.
But why? Only the Universe knows.