Chicago-Hard or Soft, for your pleasure

Brent's parents have a lake house in Northwest Indiana. Brent and I both grew up amongst cornfields, suburban neighborhoods, and big open Target and Walmart parking lots to ride our bikes through. We also both had woods behind our houses that hadn't been torn down in order to build a gas station or a bank yet. We come from the almost too quiet part of the country one might label as "small town".

Having lived in Chicago for the last six years, I must say it's the perfect place for someone like us. We both have very active personalities and lives. Brent attends at least three concerts a week and I am on the go doing some filmwork, attending some comedy show, or jogging past storefronts and busy parks. We both work in Lincoln Park, a highly congested area that hardly allows for meditation or clear thinking. But one thing is for sure: once you are in Chicago, you are no longer alone.

On one hand, the city, undoubtedly, is hard. Some like it hard. They like the forceful nature of the traffic, the fiesty wind against their faces, the shoulder to shoulder train ride with a hot stranger. 3 am crowds on a summer night and knowing that when the sun rises a 9-5 crowd will bustle into corner coffeeshops leaving hardly any room to move. Bike riders weave in and out of traffic. The homeless berate you for ignoring them. Cabs don't swerve to miss you. Lincoln Park trixies size you up and down if you don't have the latest trend on your hips. The city is hard and fast and thrilling.

But to others there is a soft part. There's the lakefront path. There's small neighborhood art galleries and an amazing live music scene. Local comedy relieves the tension that you might feel from an anxiety producing city. Small independent coffee shops provide refuge from Starbucks. Thrift stores provide refuge from the 300 dollar pair of shoes that stare at you from the display window everyday as you wait for the bus. Local parks and long bike trails give you some nature even though they are usually crowded to say the least. Nevertheless, the city has a soft side too.

At times Brent and I talk about how the lake house is our refuge. When this time of year approaches we hop on the motorcycle and head back to Lake Webster for a quick two day weekend. Yesterday I fell asleep under blanket on the pier as the sun reflected off my pale skin. The water sparkled and it's rhythm put me to sleep. Three hours later I woke up to a sunkissed tan and the feeling that sometimes nothing can beat solitude and a little taste of the country. Am I a country girl or a city girl? I often ask myself this as we enter back into Chicago on the skyway.

When I see the tall buildings and feel the bustle of the streets, something speaks to a part of me and wakes up my soul. And for that moment as we are riding into our neighborhood I decide that Chicago can be both hard and soft and so can I.