Chicago, Illinois

I spent Christmas and New Year's in Chicago, land of my birth, home of my history. It was the longest I've been back since college and while it was nice to spend so much time with family and friends, I did find myself feeling lonesome for Knoxville by the end of he trip. Chicago is lovely, but it's cold and expensive and I don't run into people I know everywhere I go. I'm happy I live in Knoxville, but am thrilled to have a home base in Chicago, which is a fantastic place to visit. I was so busy with running around and meeting up that I failed to leave the poem anywhere except the Drake Hotel, where my friend Jenny took me for a holiday High Tea. I've always loved going to tea- I'm a sucker for tiny sandwiches, little pastries and fancy places. I left the 53rd section of the poem tucked into the elbow of a little stone fountain boy we sat next to.

"You shall not heap up what is call’d riches,
You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,
You but arrive at the city to which you were destin’d, you hardly
settle yourself to satisfaction before you are call’d by an
irresistible call to depart"