ROLLER COASTER LIFE

It has been 3 weeks since the last time I typed something I thought someone would be interested in reading and I don't know how much interest I can stir up even now. My life lately has seemed to be on a roller coaster ride and I never liked roller coaster rides even as a young person so putting it in print seems scary.

One week my volunteer self is working on all four engines. Organizing school supply drives, collecting petitions for political candidates for 2010 elections. Heading to the Board of Elections office to enter signatures into a data basis. Then boom, the roller coaster is on the descend and the volunteer group has fallen apart, the signatures are all in and election time right now is all about fundraising (which I have no funds to attend these fancy dinners) so I'm not needed now and I find myself sitting here playing Majhong on Facebook all day.

Family matters work along the same amusement park lines only this is the all time thriller roller coaster ride of your life. A few days of creeping up those tracks, clickity click, clickity click is all the breathing time you get. Hit the top and bam! a swift fall, a quick turn, up and down, up and down, scream out loud, and start all over again until you think the only thing you can do is jump off. All of a sudden with no warning at all, a little sun shines through and you get a small amount of time to breathe again. But not for long. Here we go again.

And after all these years you realize that life is a roller coaster. There is nothing you can do about it but enjoy the slow time going up the tracks, take a deep breath on the down turn and start all over again. Stay in your seat, keep your arms inside the seat and please don't jump. Look around you when you are on the top. Take in the beauty of it all and try to enjoy the ride down because it's over before you know it.

DISAPPOINTMENT

As most of the world and all of Chicago knows by now we were ousted in the first round. The chance of seeing the Olympics in my hometown in my lifetime is over. I have carried gloom and sadness around all day today. I was awake in the middle of the night watching the presentation. I was standing in front of the TV watching every thing before the vote. I looked at the crowd in the loop and thought about the night in Grant Park when the election results named Barack Obama president and knew how some of those people there were going to feel when they announced Chicago as the winner of the 2016 Olympic games. I have been in combat with every friend and relative who thought it was bad for Chicago to have the games here. I felt the wind go out of the sail when the first round results were read.

And yet I don't know why I was so on the side of victory for Chicago. In 7 more years I would probably not only be unable to afford any tickets, I probably would be too old to fight the crowds and walk the avenues and just enjoyed watching on TV like I do every Olympic event. I would moan and groan about the congestion, the back up of traffic all over the city and the crowds in restaurants, stores and public transportation which is my way of getting around. We would be prisoners in our own homes until all the visitors left and went home with their gold, silver and bronze and the torch was dimmed but we would be proud. Proud that Chicago put on the best Olympic show ever. That Chicago showed the world what a beautiful and friendly city is all about. That Chicago's reputation is in the past and we have change the way we do business and are no longer second city but the city every citizen of our city, our state and our country is so, so proud of.
I guess that is what I was looking forward to and feel the disappointment of that maybe, just maybe not happening in my lifetime. Sorry all Chicago citizens for or against the games, I hope you will feel that in your lifetime.