Most people don't realize this, but I started out in the city. I was born in Chicago, and lived in Ravenswood (a north side neighborhood) until I was 5 and a half. My brother Harrison was 3 and Asher, little Ash-Bash, was just 1. I was about to start kindergarten and my parents decided that if they were ever going to move to the suburbs they might as well do it before I started to make real friends.
So we moved to Evanston.
I've spent the past 17 years of my life in this beautiful suburb just north of the city, and there is no where else in the world I would have rather grown up. You can't truly understand Evanston unless you've gone through grade school here, or you have had a child go through grade school here. The youth is what drives this place, gives it its character. Sometimes this character glistens with pride and rich, diverse culture; sometimes it is sullied with violence and hatred. No outsider can see all sides. (Especially not all you Northwestern kids. You can never know the real E.)
However, despite all the complex challenges Evanston posed, I still grew up in a suburb. It was easy to navigate, familiar, comfortable. When I began looking at colleges I shied away from schools like BU and NYU that existed amongst the crazy of the big city. I was afraid of getting lost, literally and figuratively. Intimidation was my middle name, so all city schools were out.
"But Maggie," you might say. "I thought Washington University was in a city." False. Although I attended a school that claimed to be "in St. Louis," Wash U is much like Northwestern; situated in a suburb just outside a large city. I felt safe going to a school sealed off in it's own bubble. But it had to end eventually and, after four years and a million wonderful memories inside the Wash U bubble, I am back in Evanston. Well, back for now...
Today I picked up the keys to my new apartment in the city of Chicago.
City girl is returning home, and once all my crap is moved out of this house and into my new place I am officially no longer an Evanston resident. "What? A city? Mags, I thought cities freaked you out." It's true. They do. Most people fear walking alone at night or getting robbed. I fear dropping a bag of groceries in front of a restaurant full of people on my way home from the store. I fear I'll get lost, I fear I'll hit an angry man's car while parking on a side street (which you know is a legitimate fear if you have seen my car), and I fear I am incapable of being an adult. But...
I can be a city girl.
I've got a job, I know how to get to it using public transportation, and I have two wonderful roommates who may be as clueless as I am but will protect me from myself. I have an amazing network of friends all living in the same general area that I can count on for anything. And if it all goes to shit I always have my parents waiting for me up north in the 'burbs.
Warning: "Friends" reference coming on...
Chicago is the New York to my Rachel. I have Monicas and Phoebes, Joeys and Chandlers, eventually a Ross and many a side character to meet. If a fictional spoiled brat from Long Island can make it in the big city then there is no way I can't. I'm from Evanston, I have the E embedded in my heart, and if you do too you know that it is the ultimate strength.
Besides, I'm living in Boystown. There are rainbows everywhere you look. Whats scary about that?
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