This past weekend we travelled to Chicago for Donna's Memorial Service. As expected, Molly did a lot of processing. We talked a lot about Donna, the pictures of her we have on our refrigerator, Cheryl and Molly's visit with Sheila and Donna last summer, and what it is cancer. We have no good answers for Molly's four year old questions, only a lot of talking.
Because Friday night was 'Begger's Night' in Des Moines, we went over to Lydia and Aldo's
house for costumes and 'begging' before we left for Chicago. The weather was miserable (windy, spitting rain, and cold), but Molly and Aldo were keen on scoring some candy. On a sugar high, we were able to hit the road a little before 8:00 and put us into Skokie at 12:30.
Somewhat sleep deprived we arrived at the Memorial Service for Donna on Saturday morning. Doug and Anne were there as well as a number of their high school friends from Amherst. While it was a sad reason to be seeing each other, it was good to see Ian, Bob, Eiren, and Sarah as well as reintroduce ourselves to Sheila's family. We had last seen many them at Sheila and Jeremy's wedding which was a day after Cheryl's first dialysis treatment. It brought back some strange memories.
The Memorial was heart-warming, sad, joyful, inspirational, and amazing. Donna touched and inspired so many people in her short life. We are very proud to have known her.
After the Memorial and visit to Jeremy and Sheila's home, we made arrangements to meet up with Eiren and her four year-old son, Dexter for some trick-or-treating. Since Molly hopped in the car directly from Begger's Night, she had everything she needed to experience a real Halloween.
We met Eiren, Dexter, Dexter's father Jason and a number of their friends in a very nice neighborhood in the North Shore of Chicago. Molly again donned her Silvermist outfit while Dexter was a very convincing mummy/vampire. While Dexter sprinted from house to house, Molly reveled in the fact that a mere 'Trick-or-Treat' earned her a handful of chocolate.
After Trick-or-Treating and with nothing better to do we joined Eiren and her friends at Karen's house for pizza, beer, and candy. Molly quickly made friends with the kids while Cheryl and I realized we had a number of random connections with Eiren's friends (including Cheryl having dinner that next Monday in Des Moines with one of their life-long childhood friends). If you are ever in Chicago I would recommend a stop at the Metropolis Coffee Company, run by Karen's husband Tony and his father Jeff.
While it seemed like we had three days rolled into one, after the Memorial Service in the morning it seemed so important that we go out and celebrate life and experience new experiences that day. If for no other reason than we were given that opportunity.
The next day Molly and I hit the hotel swimming pool. In a unique twist, the Skokie Doubletree has an indoor/outdoor heated pool, so Molly and I can say we went swimming outside on November 1st. After the pool we had brunch at a funky place called Uncommon Ground and than made our way over to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum next to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We listened to bird calls, learned about critter cams, walked through a butterfly garden, maneuvered a preying mantis, and took a family portrait. Worn out, we hit the road and didn't arrive back in Des Moines until 8:30.
For so many reasons, this was a weekend that none of us will ever forget.
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