Things I will miss about Chicago

Never too early to take stock and appreciate what I got:

• Robert Morris College, Lake County. Fabulous place to teach. It's small and homey, just like UMM was. And they serve a complimentary dinner every night. It's the sweetest relief for harried students (and faculty) who blast over to campus immediately from work, and who can concentrate SO much better with a few chicken wings and some fountain pop down the gullet.
• Giordano's Pizza. Deep Dish, Chicago-style. Not to be missed. I recommend it with mushrooms and pepperoni.
• Valli Produce, my fantastic local international grocery and deli. It's like what grocery stores would be, if the UN were in the grocery business.
• April, May, and a little bit of June. Midwestern Storm Season! Snow one day, 80 degree sunshine the next, wind, rain, thunder, lightning, fire and brimstone. The weather is wild, wicked, and unpredictable during this time, unlike the rest of this region the rest of the year.
• Boystown (LakeView) and increasingly, Andersonville. I love gay culture, and Chicago is Mecca for all the gay farm boys who grew up in shit towns ranging from the Ohio Valley to the Rockies. 400,000 people at the Pride Parade last year can't be wrong!
• Dixie Kitchen, Evanston. Southern cooking: The best BBQ Chicken, cornbread, cheese grits, sweet potatoes, and cole slaw on God's good earth.
• Diversity. If you want it, we've got it. Across the nation and around the world, if it exists, I defy you to NOT find it in Chicago.
• Tall-Ass Buildings. Birthplace of the skyscraper, Chicago will ruin you ever after for other skylines. Get a window seat when you fly in from anywhere, or if you fly out and head east.
• The Lake. Though decidedly not the ocean, nothing is more still and serene than looking east over Lake Michigan in January, as the sun sets behind you and the tones of blue deepen into black, and the planes like enormous stars hover over the horizon in holding patterns, bound for O'Hare.