I met Joanna at Miller's Pub. It's a classic, old-school Chicago restaurant. Laminated menu. Lots of burgers, chops and chicken. Framed photos on the wall of the luminaries who have dined here before. (We sat across from the Wicked Witch of the West herself, Margaret Hamilton, whose autographed photo was displayed beside Ghostbuster Harold Ramis. I passed Joey Bishop on my way to the ladies room.)
I took the train and wandered through the Loop. I was surrounded by people! Not as many as an afternoon in February 2000, but more than I've seen in a while. It made me happy.
I strolled on my way to the restaurant and saw this. The Huntington Bank branch on the corner of Madison and Wabash was a place of worship before The Fire. I've passed this corner dozens of times and never noticed this plaque before. For a moment I felt a tremendous kinship with the Chicagoans who were here before me.
It was nice to catch up with Joanna. She and I email and text regularly but this is the first time I've seen her in 2023. I loved her yellow raincoat. I told her she looked veddy veddy British, which makes sense she'd ordered the coat from a department store in London. She always puts such care into her appearance that I upped my game a bit. Sure, I was wearing jeans and tennies, but I chose a pullover instead of a Cubs t-shirt.
She's been working very hard, is tired, and I sense that she's a little jealous that I'm retired. Two years older than I am, she's long been self-employed and hasn't had the benefit of decades of 401(k) contributions. But that isn't why my heart went out to her today. She's been seeing Sid since 2019 and has been crazy about him since they met. A successful businessman, he retired because of a stroke and she's enjoyed being part of the new chapter of his life. But his health and especially his cognition are failing and she knows she's in the midst of a long goodbye. As she talked about him, she still laughed at things he says to her every day. He amuses her, she loves him, and he's fading away. Heartbreaking.
But she's a survivor. She's looking ahead, too. The cost of living here is too expensive and she's considering a move to Kalamazoo. Or Paris. I tried not to laugh but that's so Joanna. She of the Paddington Bear raincoat. She always has one foot in the Midwest as her soul soars over the ocean.
Too many of us are getting older and are being touched by dementia related symptoms. I'm glad Joanna has someone who makes her laugh and feel good, but it makes me sad, knowing what is to come.
ReplyDeleteJoanna sounds like a charming person. I am glad that you could meet up and enjoy lunch. So sad that her love is experiencing cognitive issues - very sad indeed. I hope they experience many joyful moments together for as long as they can.
ReplyDeleteYou deserve a break and I'm so glad you had a nice outing!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a lovely lunch and gabfest. It's great she is able to hold on to the simple moments and not be consumed (yet) by the long goodbye.
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