i've learned

If you're going to drive in Chicago on a Monday night when the Bears are playing at home, there's no sense in being in a hurry.
When the sky is clear and the sun has just set, the orange and peach and cream and blue is the same here as in Alabama.
Sharing a few days in my world with people I love and am familiar with leaves a lingering level of comfort that keeps me warm and safe.
It's not so much that I'm more adaptable than I expected, it's that anyone comfortable with themselves can adapt more easily.
The antenna lights on the Sears/Willis tower (or just "the tower") can cause support for most anything just by changing color.
You need good brakes and a horn to drive around here.
It's hard to be homesick for a place when you no longer have a home there.
It's easy to be homesick for people and events regardless of where you are.
Lacy makes a mean chocolate martini.
312 is an area code, not a number.
ZoCAlo is pronounced ZOcalo.
People over 30 are more friendly than people in their 20's.  At least to older people.
You can always find something you can't live without at Marshall's.
Joy can come from the most unexpected places at the most unexpected times.
There is such a thing as a "benign tremor".  Yes, tremor.
The smell of the chocolate factory across the river is exactly like the chocolate gravy my mother used to make.
When they say it's the first day of Autumn, in some parts of the world, it actually feels like it.

And, that....it's an effect of growing up in a small town that when you walk outdoors in the afternoon and the air has a certain coolness, freshness, and the shadows are long, you feel like you're supposed to be headed to a football game.  I will forever be ingrained with that feeling.  It takes me back to the excitement of putting on the band or cheerleader uniform and heading to the high school field where the fans are pouring in and the popcorn is popping in the concession stand and you know the hot chocolate is so hot it will slosh and burn your hand and the majorettes sparkle and the shoulder pads smash together with that familiar clack and for a couple of hours, you're in a different world.  I can't walk outside on those certain clear Autumn afternoons without being transported to that world.