My time in Chicago has finally come to an end. This is the final Chicago blog post. In a few hours, I’m driving to Milwaukee for a wedding. These last 2.5 weeks were full of walks and friends.

Monica and I got into a routine where one of us would remind the other to go for a walk when the weather was nice or when we had been sitting on the couch for too long. Most walks were around Monica’s neighborhood, which has some nice grassy areas with lakes and bridges, but other times we drove to a reservoir or lake and went to a brewery after. I also got to make sourdough again! I revived Monica’s starter, Craig, and made a few loaves and naan bread. I really miss Petunia, my starter, so it’s been nice having fresh sourdough again.

I finally started coding again. I’m currently learning a new programming language, so I’m going through a tutorial. It has been very humbling. I still enjoy coding, but I started feeling anxiety again when I started doing it. It had been 6 months since I last wrote any code and I thought my burnout would be mostly gone by now, but I was wrong. I’m definitely doing a lot better, but I still have some healing time ahead of me. I’m trying not to beat myself up over having to be patient with myself. It’s so easy to think of myself as weak, but I keep reminding myself of everything I’ve put my body through in the last few years and how it took care of me through it all. I realized that part of why my anxiety showed up again is that I was unconsciously giving myself a deadline to finish the tutorial. I didn’t know it, but I was pressuring myself to finish it quickly and get started on the app. Once I told myself that I can go through it as slowly as I want to, it got much better. Now I’m still coding, but I’m doing it in small chunks on days when I have a lot of time.

Two weekends ago, Monica and I went to her brother Tom’s house to help cut down a tree. There was a big tree close to the house and they were worried it would eventually fall on the house. Monica’s parents, two of her brothers, and one brother in law came to help. The men worked on cutting down the tree and the women helped break down the branches so we could add them to the burn pile. There were a few close calls. At one point, us girls were at the kitchen window watching them cut down a branch when we saw it start falling in our direction. We all screamed and ran in different directions to take cover. Luckily, the branch was tied to Tom’s truck and he stepped on the gas immediately to pull the branch in a different direction. Only some of the smaller branches hit the roof, so all was well.

Last week, we had wonderful weather. To celebrate, I took my car to the shop to get the front brakes replaced. Just kidding, that wasn’t my way of celebrating the weather, but I did need new brakes. The rear brakes were replaced in November, so those were fine. I found a shop 5 minutes from Monica’s place that has a van that will take you home and pick you up once your car is done. It was great.

On Thursday, Monica and I actually took advantage of the weather by going to a Cubs game. Then we bought pizza and went to her brother Peter’s place to have dinner with his family. On Friday, I helped my friend Aixa move. She’s a friend who I met in Chicago through Monica and Therese. I’ve been to Chicago enough that now she’s my friend too. Then Aixa, Monica, Therese, and I had dinner together on Saturday. When I first arrived in Chicago, I started saying that we all had to get together and it finally happened on my last weekend here.

I’ve been back at Therese’s place this week. Luci is so close to walking. I keep telling her she needs to walk before I leave, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. This week has been very relaxing. We’ve run errands, watched TV, and made brownies. Therese’s parents and her brother Nicho came over last night for dinner so they could say goodbye to me. As usual, being in Chicago has been wonderful. It feels like home. And no, Monica and Therese, that doesn’t mean I’m moving to Chicago. It’s still waaay too cold here.