Chicago Bound

As tired as I was last night, I really didn’t sleep very well. My body hurt too bad from all of the activity.  I waited until 10 a.m. to text Cameron and see if he wanted me to help in his room, but he wanted to unpack himself. Brett was at the Saint Vincent dePaul Society helping move donated furniture, so I decided to get a few things done on my own. First, I packed up everything that I would need to take to Meg’s. Second, I ran to target to get Cameron a curtain rod that actually fit his windowsill. My last stop was Bloomington hardware. I realized yesterday that Cameron did not have a carbon monoxide detector, fire extinguisher, or battery operated fire alarm for his apartment. Those were extremely important to me, so I picked them up the hardware store. The last item on my list ended up being the funniest. Cameron was living on the third floor and there was no fire escape. I decided to buy him a fire ladder. As I was talking to Doug about it, he envisioned a tall 25 foot aluminum ladder that Cameron would keep in his room. Thankfully, I realized that a fire ladder was a rope ladder that hung on the window and could easily be stored under Cameron’s bed. I thought Cameron would think that I was nuts, but he agreed that he needed one and ordered it this afternoon.

Brett picked Cameron up on his way home and they loaded the last two things from Brett’s apartment into the van. Cameron really didn’t want to move his mini fridge and microwave today, but knew that Brett was available and could use the help getting them upstairs. It didn’t take very long and while we were there, I helped Cameron put up his curtains and get his fire alarm and carbon monoxide detector set up. I wanted to help him unpack again, but he really wanted to do himself. It made the most sense as he would know where everything was. We left for lunch at McAllister’s and enjoyed our last afternoon together in Bloomington before I headed to Illinois. I was sad to leave, but Cameron was more than ready for me to go. He had made plans with his roommates and had several SAB events that he wanted to attend he wanted to tackle his room.

Brett and I had a wonderful time on our way up to West Lafayette. The traffic wasn’t too bad and we were able to get to the mall by 5:30. I really enjoyed my stay with Brett. We had talked about a lot of things and spent some quality time together. I know that he would’ve been OK if I would have stayed one more day, but he was also happy to get back home and hang out with Sean for the night.

Meg and I walked through the mall and did a little bit of window shopping. We picked up a soft pretzel from Auntie Anne’s. The traffic into Chicago wasn’t anything like I thought it would be and we made the trip in a little less than two hours. Parking was hard to come by, but thankfully we found a spot and could get all of my things up to Meg’s apartment in one trip. We spent the rest of the evening talking, listening to albums, and ordering dinner from Nando‘s. It was extremely relaxing. I loved looking at all of Meg’s wedding gifts and hearing about what she’d been up to this past week. I even tried one of her favorite drinks, a cosmopolitan. It was a fun night and I was very glad to have spent it with Meg.