Saturday morning, our second day in Chicago, we watched the rain fall outside the windows of Nathan's apartment until around lunch time. The clouds cleared up and Nathan, Anka, Molly, and I all jumped on a metro train to Jeremy's side of town.
With Jeremy we hopped a few more buses to a local culinary legend: Hot Doug's. When we arrived at this hot dog stand the line wrapped out the door and almost a block down the sidewalk. I figured, if this many people are willing to wait this long for a hot dog, it must be good right? Molly and I passed the time mostly by talking with Jeremy, who has a great sense of humor. A moth came and landed on his chest and then flew away. He said "Ah, moths. They come and go out of your life so quickly." I added, "And steal your heart away." The three of us lamented this fact for several minutes and then laughed until we couldn't breathe.
Sure enough Hot Doug's food was amazing and worth the hour and a half wait. The best part though was catching the waiter dancing with a tray to "Dancing Queen". He stopped dancing and looked at me sheepishly when he saw me watching. He said, "I guess that was kinda weird huh?" I replied, "No, that was amazing!"
After Hot Dog's it was that strange goodbye to Nathan and Anka where Molly and I followed Jeremy into the middle of the street. Molly, Jeremy, and I critiqued Food Network chefs at Jeremy's until dinner time. Then, Molly and I caught the L train to go meet up with David Tollefsen at his older sister's apartment.
David's older sister, Jessica, is married and lives in an apartment right across the street from Moody Bible Institute. How cool is that? Molly and I rendezvoused with them successfully there. It felt so good to have the freedom to navigate on our own! I was a bit nervous to meet Jessica and her husband John for the first time, but it turned out I had no need to be.
That evening with David's family was like a tall glass of cold water after a day in the Phoenix sun. They welcomed Molly and I in with open arms and showed us incredible hospitality. They seemed to be genuinely glad that we were there and interested in getting to know us. It was the most at peace and rested I felt the entire trip. And the interesting thing was you could tell they weren't trying to go above and beyond, they were just being themselves. Especially with the contrast of the night before, their lifestyle reflected Jesus to me in one of the most tangible ways I've ever experienced.
We grilled dinner out on the roof of their apartment building until dusk. I got to talk to John about his vision for planting a church in Tucson as well as quote about 1/4 of the Princess Bride. At some point I got to talk to Jessica as well about her classes at Moody. It was also cool to get to know David's younger sister, Laura, a little better and see her open up some and be goofy. :) And, of course, it was great to just to be able to hang out and talk with David.
After dinner, we all went swimming in their apartment pool and hot tub and played around like little kids. When it got late, Molly and I were just going to take the train home, but John and David offered to drive us back to Jeremy's. Again, they offered without so much as a hint of annoyance or incovenience. They didn't do it out of obligation, they did it because they cared about us and wanted to do it. Even though they had just met us. Amazing.
Before bed, Molly, Jeremy, and I played a cut-throat (almost literally) game of Sorry! with Jeremy's girlfriend, Beth. It was definitely worth staying up until 2:30 am for! Beth kicked all our butts though, but Jeremy came in from behind to make it a close second.
Molly and I figured out all our plans for the next day and crashed.
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