I’m late getting this posted, but I still think it’s a good story ….
Last Saturday, in Chicago, we took the Lake St. L downtown, heading for Navy Pier to use our half-price tix to Chicago Shakespeare’s Gypsy – Chicago Shakes, as they call it.
The show was at 8:00, so we left Oak Park around a little after 6:30, to allow time for transferring from the Green to the Red, and walking out to Navy Pier – in the snow. And with some trepidation as to how we’d get back.
A young woman got on with her baby in a stroller. While the mom was un-bundling the baby, another young woman asked if it was a boy or a girl and how old – boy, 7 months. The other girl got off, and the one with the baby got out her provisions for the journey – 2 bags of chips and pink vitamin water. She gave the baby a cheesey ruffle, and then ate her share from the bag. She was really good about the baby – watching him to make sure he didn’t get a piece that was too big, that might choke him, repositioning the chip and his blankets. She finished the ruffles, and opened up her bag of Chester ‘s flamin’ hot fries. She was good about those too, making sure she got all the hot stuff off her fingers before touching the baby.
I watched with a mixture of horror and admiration. I never would’ve given either of my kids a potato chip – cheese-flavored, no less – when they were 7 months old. But she did it so well. And the baby loved his chip – salty, delicious. And maybe cheesey chips are a special treat in their family, not what they eat for dinner every night. I wonder.
When we left the play there NO cabs, and it was still snowing hard – maybe they were all at the Penguins v. Blackhawks hockey game at Soldier Field – and the 29 State bus that we knew would take us to the Red line was pulling away. The 60 Chicago to Austin saved our butts – routing us a little too far north, but we got off at the State & Chicago subway entrance and made up the distance under cover.
