Oh, it is cold in…

Oh, it is cold in Chicago. The forecast says it's seven degrees F right now, feels like minus twelve with wind. Thankfully, I can stay almost entirely inside today; I have a two p.m. meeting with a grad student about her thesis, but she was willing to come to my neighborhood (which is closer for her than campus) and we're just going to meet in the coffeeshop across the street. I should be able to survive half a block in the cold, despite my lack of my super-warm winter coat.

Where is my winter coat, you may ask? Well, see, yesterday my sister called me in the middle of the afternoon to say that her winter coat had been stolen (out of her office, while she was actually in there, with her back to the open door!), and she had therefore also lost her car keys, her apartment keys, and her cell phone. Poor munchkin. Ellie and I went to pick her up and run her on a few vital errands that HAD to get done, which was not too painful aside from the sitting in rush hour traffic part, and at the end of the three hours, I loaned her my super-warm down coat.

I do have another winter coat; a solid black wool, so it's not like I'm actually going to freeze or anything. And she'll buy herself a replacement coat soon, and it makes more sense for her to have the warmer coat this weekend because she has to run around all over the place, and I can mostly just stay in my nice toasty apartment with the fire going. That's what I've been doing all morning -- re-reading my student's thesis and making notes in front of the fire, while Kevin sits across from me doing math, and puppy alternately runs around trying to get us to play or gives up and curls up on the couch next to me, napping until we become less boring...

Devi said in e-mail yesterday that it must be a relief to have the Oxford decision over and done with, and to know that we're probably staying in Chicago. And y'know, I hadn't even realized it until she said it, but yes, it's a huge relief.

I love my home. Oh, we may move elsewhere in Chicago in a few years, to a better school district and a house with a yard for puppy and daughter to play in. But I'll be happy to stay here for a few more years at least. It's funny, because I've had such wanderlust all my life -- every few years I've picked up and moved; I've gotten restless and itchy. But I feel like I haven't even come close to exhausting what Chicago has to offer us. Even on a day like today, a bitter seven degrees and feeling like minus twelve, I'm very happy to be right here, doing exactly what I'm doing. It's good to be home.


The thermostat reads minus twelve
and my coat has gone missing
but you
my boy, my dog, my little girl
are a fire in my heart
and I do not feel the cold

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