A Transition

We started our long and complicated transition to Chicago just weeks after Eleanor was born. By the second week of December, I’d signed terms with the agency position in Chicago and began packing up our life in twenty four inch boxes. 

On New Years Eve, Jason and I moved our entire apartment to Chicago in a seventeen foot Uhaul truck. The trip was miserable but unloading was even worse. We’d been up nearly 24 hours (22 of them on the road) and there wasn’t a single place to park on Aldine or surrounding streets. We took a corner and something in the road ripped a fist sized hole in on of the back tires. I was so hysterical at this point, I don’t think it even bothered me. Of course, roadside assistance couldn’t get to us until morning so we parked in the alley illegally blocking someones garage. Jason and I unloaded the whole truck until daylight the next morning and finally crashed on the floor in the living room. I can’t even begin to explain how much of a help he was. After a few days in Chicago, Jason and I took the train home where I headed back to help Amy and the kids make the move to our new place.

We Florida around seven o’clock in the evening on January 10th. Our intention was to leave early that morning but with so many loose ends, it took all day to finally be ready to leave. With the last bit of our personal belongings packed in the car, we decided to just drive through the night and and get some rest at mom’s house in Southern Illinois, about five hours South of Chicago. 

We pulled up to Mom’s at about 6:00am with everyone still sleeping. After nineteen failed attempts, my brother Jason answered his phone and unlocked the door for us. Owen had (ever so timely) pooped his pants so much so that it was leaking out the sides of his jeans. Needless to say, we took him in washed up. Rather than coming in and getting some much needed sleep, we stayed up and hassled with . The plan was to stay through the night and take off early the next morning for Chicago. Once again plans changed again when we found out a sever snowstorm was set to hit the city by morning. As miserable as it was to continue, we got back in the car and drove five straight hours North. 

Yes, I got a speeding ticket. Yes, I cussed at a State Trooper.

Search my car for narcotics? Are kidding me? It’s raining. I’ve got a gigantic rack on the roof of my car, Florida plates and two screaming children obviously exhausted from riding in the car all day. Of course I’m trafficking drugs under the cover of half awake, exhausted family man. Of course.

We pulled into Chicago completely hysterical and worn out. It gets a little blurry here honestly because I’d been up for almost two days before finally falling asleep. 

Sure enough, the snow came as expected. Despite it being the most miserable ride Amy and I had ever been through, it would have been ten times worse and twice as long had we faced icy roads and that five inches of snow. 

Around 10:00am the next morning, the lights went out. With construction across the street and bad weather, I assumed it was just a temporary outage. A few minutes went by and I got worried it was more than that. Out our back window stood a ComEd technician. It came together pretty quickly what was really going on. 

“Did you just cut our power?” 

“Call 1-800-MYCOMED” she replied in a disturbing monotone. I asked why and a few other questions and she kept repeating the same 1-800 line. 

I called. ComEd had me talking to a rep very quickly and I set up the account in my name and paid the deposit. The obvious question at this point was when we could get the power reconnected. Their reply? “1-3 business days.” “So it won’t be today?” “No sir. 1-3 business days is our policy” “It’s twenty degrees outside ma’am and I’ve got two kids inside. That’s ridiculous. This must resolved sooner than that. It’s Thursday and you’re telling me Monday at the latest?” “Sir, 1-3 business days” “Wow. I want to speak to your supervisor.”

Hold music.

My phone battery was dying and as logical as it seemed to plug it in to charge, I realized there was no power. I walked to the Melrose Diner to charge and wait what ended up being almost an hour before I heard the next human voice.

The woman was rude and completely unhelpful. I told her there was a ComEd tech on our street still and offered to pay any amount of money necessary to get this reconnected. She said they could “interrupt their work schedules for residential complaints”. I hung up.

The reason they explained for disconnecting the power was that the owner of the building had failed to sign a standard form assuming responsibility for usage during the vacancy. I went to him with the situation and he assured me the form had been filed and sent me a copy signed and dated.

Meanwhile it’s getting colder in the house.

I don’t know much about Chicago but I know how the Alderman structure works from my brief stint watching “The Chicago Code”. I looked up the office of the Alderman for our ward and headed straight there with Owen. It turns out the office has a woman on staff who works as a liaison just to handle garbage like this from the utility companies. They gave a number for a downtown office and the woman ended up being a very refreshing help and understanding. She acted as if this happens all the time. I wasn’t sure whether that was supposed to put me at ease or what. She called back a few hours later and informed me that ComEd would send someone out by 3:30 and have this resolved. I took Amy and the kids to Ikea to kill time and stay warm.

Through all of this, Owen had been coughing hard for almost a week. It got so bad Friday night that we started him on Motrin and regular doses of cough medicine. Around 1:30am on Saturday he crawled over to our bed and began crying and coughing so much that he threw up all over the head of our mattress and heads. Children’s Memorial, the leading children’s hospital in Chicago was just 10 blocks away so I wrapped him up and took him into the ER. Judging by my experiences lately with institutions in IL, I’d expected this to be a headache however within eight minutes (yes, I counted) we were registered and with two doctors diagnosing his condition. Apparently there’s little they can do for a respiratory infection despite how bad it had gotten. They sent us home shortly after with a popsicle and tylenol.

I went to church alone that next morning at The Painted Door. The atmosphere and fellowship was so relieving after so many troubles getting into the city. 

I had expected to start work at the agency on Monday but both me and my supervisor had forgotten about it being MLK Day. Thankfully this gave us another day to relax with the kids and rest. The agency environment is one quite different than what I’m used to but I’m enjoying the new groove.

Just as things started to settle down I got a call at work, dropped what I was doing and came home quickly. Amy had complained earlier that morning about pain in her side but nothing too serious. It was now to the point where she couldn’t bare any longer. I rushed her and the kids to the ER at Northwestern Memorial in downtown. They confirmed within a few hours that she did in fact have a kidney stone and that is was nearly six times the average size. I hung out with the kids in the little trauma room as long as I could but nearing midnight, Owen was far beside himself and we had to leave.

I got to our back door around 1:00am after walking two blocks with both kids from the nearest parking spot I could find. I unlocked the bolt and realized Amy had left the chain locked making it impossible for me to open the door. After a fit of rage at the day’s events, Owen started trying to fit through the seven or eight inch space. He couldn’t fit through with his big jacket and boots on so I stripped him down into his pajamas and wiggled him through the crack in the door. After about five minutes of explaining to him through the glass how to unhook the chain, he finally got it. 

The doctor said the next morning that although the normal protocol for a stone is to manage with pain meds and let it pass naturally, they would need to operate to remove the stone.  Due to infection, they couldn’t operate until it cleared up by way of the antibiotics. They scheduled her operation for later than night then postponed again.

I was able to visit a couple times with the kids but once in a permanent hospital room, we weren’t allowed to keep the kids overnight. Amy called me the next morning and they weren’t doing the laser surgery until four o’clock. In the meantime, the pain got so intense that they pushed her up the list.

Surgery was quick and heck, Amy can’t remember a thing. They discharged her hours later with enough pain meds to send her to Mars and back. Thankfully she didn’t need those. The women from the church were kind enough to bring us dinners and give Amy a break.

Overall, I don’t have an answer for why all this happened in our first week in a new city but heck, it seems the worst part is over. God gave us the grace to get through it even when I nearly lost it a few times.

Well, there it is. You all have vague idea of what the past week was like.

On a lighter note, we really love our apartment and neighborhood. The house was built just before 1900 and stands as one of just several remaining wood frame houses in the neighborhood. Despite the cold, the conveniences of living here are so great. I can walk down the block at get a cup of joe from Caribou, fantastic Thai food, Five Guys, Chipotle, and a handful of local American and ethnic joints. Shopping is really nice too: Whole Foods, Jewel Osco, Walmart, thrift stores, Gap, a huge gym with a massive rock wall, bike shops, etc. The list goes on. 

We’re looking forward to getting settled in our new home.

That’s all folks.

Anonymous asked: You're a family man. Balancing family time with the demands of freelancing and running your own business can be tough, I imagine. Any advice/tips?

Absolutely. There’s hours to talk about here. A few quick things I’ve learned:

1. God’s grace is sufficient.

2. This job isn’t for everyone. You have to make sure your wife/husband is willing to make these sacrifices along with you. 

3. Do your best to work more regular hours. You’ll be more productive separating the two anyway. This way at least your family knows when you’ll be home or done for the day. Rather than you just working constantly with no real structure.

4. Mentally separate your client work time from time spent just playing around and experimenting. This can be a huge distraction. Get the important stuff done first. Play later.

5. Now to be entirely contradictory: Occasionally, involve the family in your processes. I know that sounds wild but if you’re painting for a project, bring it home, crack out the paints and let the kids have a blast. Making them feel like they’re a part of what you spend most of your average day doing.

Overworked and Underslept

Since the launch of my new brand, I’ve been busier than ever. Truly, I don’t remember being so busy in my entire career. Between printing, designing, marketing and juggling home life, the last two months have been a roller coaster.

We’ve got lots of great things in store for Lincoln in 2011. We’re going to be releasing a jacket, tote bag, backpack and some leather items along with a ton of new great t-shirts. Keep checking out the website for more info. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Makes the medicine go down…

I’ve been extremely busy lately. Nothing makes a long day less miserable than good music. I’ve really been enjoying the new work from Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Mindy Smith, John Vanderslice and Jimmy Eat World. Bon I’ver has a cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Come Talk To Me” out. You definitely need to check it out. 

Come Talk To Me - Bon Iver

Thank God, there’s still people out there making good music.