On Sunday, I made a trip to Palatine, which I had planned for a while. I wanted to see at least some of my friends, especially my old neighbors who never visited me at my new place and are unlikely to ever visit due to multiple health issues. I was ready to take public transportation when one of my friends I wanted to visit offered to drive me both ways. At first, I wanted to say, ” No, thank you”, but then I realized that this would give us almost two extra hours of talking/catching up, and also that she could visit my mom, who is always happy to speak Russian with someone, so I enthusiastically agreed.

It’s interesting how familiar my old place still feels. I loved visiting and noticing both what stayed the same and what changed: new businesses, new names on old establishments, new construction, and new green patches. Looking at an almost sterile environment, with no garbage in sight, with perfectly manicured lawns everywhere I looked and impeccable landscaping, I was thinking about whether I would want to observe this site day after day, after day. I know I liked it when I lived in Palatine; I loved seeing this picture-perfect everywhere I looked, and at some point, I thought all of America was like that :). I also realized I haven’t been that far inland in a while, and I forgot how humid and stuffy the air can get!

I also wanted to visit Deer Grove Forest Preserve, which, as I keep saying, is the only thing I really miss after moving to Rogers Park. My friend, who is a steward in Deer Grove, took me there for a walk at the end of our visit, and it was great to see the prairie in full bloom and lots of restoration being done.

The best part of the day, however, was talking to my friends. All of them have very different backgrounds, different perspectives, and are in different places in their lives. Still, all of them are near and dear to me. I told the story of “what had happened with me during the last year” three times and got different reactions, different questions, and heard three different stories in return. And all three were very deep and meaningful conversations, not me merely nodding or reassuring someone that their life is not over :). Love my friends 🥰

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