I Have Three Friends in Chicago

One of my favorite bands is from there.
So is Obama. And Oprah (kind of).
I know why it's called The Windy City (and it's not because of the wind).
Cold winters.
It has a massive bean which qualifies as art.
There's seemingly an 80% chance that cop/firefighter/doctor show on prime time is based there.
It's also a home for all four major sports teams.
Sufjan Stevens wrote an amazing song about it.

It's Chicago! And that's an exhaustive list of what I know about it and what it means to me. But there are people there that mean something to me. Three friends, each made during different points of my life, are floating in a sea of 2.7 million people next to Lake Michigan. The strength of friendship fluctuates between each of them, but truth be told--I really like all of them. Can't exactly say why, but they mean so much to me.

This connection with my Chicagoan friends and how they don't seem to intersect at all makes a bizarre journal of my life. It seems that wherever I have been, Chicago has a piece of me with it. Through these friends, a city holds my history, no matter how distant it is.

Here are a few stories about each of them.

LAUREN, FROM HIGH SCHOOL
One time me, Lauren, and some other members of our high school drama group volunteered to do tech work for a travelling acting group. we got an excused absence from school and did 12 hours of slave labor. We had about an hour break, and we all went out and got some really nasty pizza. It looked like it had cancerous lumps on it.
The company was an Irish dancing group. The crew was gregarious. A guy who looked like Liam Neeson pulled a prank on me and he laughed at me the rest of the night. Lauren and I hung out the whole time.

She once tried to make moonwalking a requirement at a musical tryout. I'm pretty sure she succeeded.

One time she gave me a ride home and we were listening to "Lisztomania." The line came up where it sounds like they're saying "Like a rhino / not easily offended" and I turned to her and said "contrary to this song, Rhinos are easily offended." We laughed a lot.

Easily the most underappreciated actress during the time I spent with her.

It's been a long time since I have seen Lauren, which is a real shame. Her Instagram stories are the best in the business. Quality original content. She's incredibly genuine, someone who I call a "corner" friend. If you ever got backed into a corner, you'd want her by your side. And best of all, she'll always go along with your jokes.

Lauren is the incredibly happy person next to the tall, scarved me.I have a lifelong trend of not taking photos with people, making it incredibly difficult to locate one. 

ERIN, FROM COLLEGE
Erin and I have similar music tastes, which is fantastic. There's a very small cluster of friends that I share musical taste with. Anytime she mentions a song on social media, I look it up. We bonded over Bon Iver's 22, a million album.

We were in the same play together. She was a stone. I was the lord of the underworld. The more I look back, the more I love that play. But the actors I worked with were even better. So much talent was in that little play. While I sadly flaked out of BYU's acting major, a lot of those people stayed in theater, Erin included. She was a professional through in through. Powerful and humble.

Her friend came to support her one night. She was really nice. I ended up marrying her. To this day that was the only time Ashley has seen me act.

I really enjoy following her escapades. I think she's brave and highly admirable. Hopefully Chicago treats her well.

Erin is the redhead in the middle, as I am the suited man on the left. This was a beautiful, moving play and she blew the doors off with her performance.

FRANK, FROM MY MISSION
Missionaries and those they teach tend to bond. But Frank and I have gone beyond that. It has been three and a half years since I taught him, and we've reached out to each other at least once a week ever since. Who knows why.

The first time I met him he wore a Yale shirt because my companion's last name was Yale. And he said Hall and Yale sounded like Hall and Oates. I included three references to Hall and Oates in that lesson, and he picked them all up, if I'm not mistaken.

I was feeling pretty blue when a girl dumped me and gave Frank a call. I opened the conversation with a joking backhanded compliment so sharp I'm surprised he stayed on the call. He laughed and said "I'm pretty sure you're the only person that can get away with saying that."

Through a sequence of events he became my best man. He did a great job at it. At the wedding he got to meet my family. Now he's kind of like one of us--for better or for worse.

Frank is on the left. I am incredibly grateful for our friendship, no matter how abnormal it may be.

These stories are what Chicago holds. It is a city of records, and it sort holds bits of my home with it. In that sense, it is like one of my favorite songs from my Chicago bands, "via Chicago." Somehow, I come home via Chicago, even if I don't fully understand it.

And yes, I am pretty sure I have some cousin there too. Don't have any connection to them at all. Sorry. Wish I did.