A very long stroll.

I found a most awesome way to procrastinate finishing my sermon. A three mile stroll. Did I mean to walk all the way to Lunt Ave? Absolutely not. I only meant to get another coffee and go to Berger Park. Berger Park being the location where I dream of having my wedding to Mr. I Have No Idea Who He Is Yet But I Will When I Meet Him Damn It.

The sun was warm on my back, the coffee was hot, lots of little kids were swinging and skipping around the park. I decided to explore my neighborhood a little, because I have a very small area that I usually walk in. My house to the coffee shop. The Bus Stop. The El Station. My Shul. That’s about it. I rarely walk down a different street, I’m a girl in a rut.

So I decided to explore Loyola Campus a little. When I was in Jr. High, I dreamt of attending Loyola. Only because my brother got the catalog in the mail when he was in High School and the photographs of the lake were so damn pretty. But after living in spitting distance of the campus for two years, I’ve never been. So I wandered and found a sign in Hebrew. Sweet.

Then I just kep walking and winding my way through neighborhoods and beaches. I met some nice dogs, I envied some adorable families, I walked and walked and walked and walked. When I finally decided I was probably in Roger’s Park and far enough north, I walked back over to Sheridan. I was expecting to find Devon Ave, but I was on Lunt. I was at 7000 N and had started way back at 5900 N.

Then I started my, “I’ll just walk until the bus gets here,” thing and got passed by the bus again and again. When I got to the Loyola station, it seemed silly to get on the train for such a short ride. I kept walking. Good thing I did, too. Eventually I wound up at PayLess and bought two pairs of shoes for my bat mitzvah. One wedge heel and one flip flop. We’ll see how balanced I feel that day and that will dictate the shoes.

And then I got home and the lobby smelled amazing. “Who is baking?” Erm. Nobody. I had left candles burning. Luckily I only burn candles in the middle of a clean table on a special silver tray. Nice one Leah. This is why you don’t burn candles, remember? Remember the Hotel Fire in Seattle? REMEMBER?

Now it is time to get cleaned up and eat some dinner. I took a lot of photographs, so definitely head to Flickr to see what I saw.