Will You Shelve Your Own Book One Day?

Back in December of 2016, my mom and I went to go see Dear Evan Hansen .  It was at that point just some show I had heard had done well off-Broadway but that I thought might be good.  I knew nothing about what I was in for. I cried.  I cried so much.  I cried way more than I did when I went to go see Me and Earl and the Dying Girl  and I cried during that movie to such a degree that my friend's boyfriend leaned over to her and asked if I was okay.  And I was okay in that movie theater, just caught up in a sad story (come on, the words dying girl are in its title!).  But I was not okay during Dear Evan Hansen. Or after.  My poor mother and I walked, shell shocked, through a slowly falling snow to talk to a lot of Italian food about our feelings.  Of which there were many.  Because the story is tragic, but uplifting and inspirational and unifying and filled with longing.  And yet at the same time I felt so hollow, even with all of...

I am now officially a Chicago resident!  Or maybe not all that official, I still have to go to the DMV and get my student ID sorted, but I have a lease!  Which is signed!  And I've already unpacked every box, which must be some kind of record.  (Just to clarify, there were still boxes I had not unpacked in 6 years in my apartment in Westfield.)  I was able to do that because the movers showed up during the very first day of their arrival window, which was a big perk. My mom did the drive with me out here, across 2 days and nearly 800 miles. This trip took me through 2 states I had never visited before (Ohio and Indiana) and the entire length of Pennsylvania.  We stopped overnight outside of Cleveland and during our drive on the 2nd day at Indiana Shores, on the banks of Lake Michigan. Historic house that reminded me of the Golden Girls . When you have filters, who needs actual sunshine? It was really pretty beautiful and the sand was...