The Very Expensive Nap

On Sunday morning bright and early, The Player and I boarded the Amtrak train to Chicago.  We had packed the night before, except for a few odds and ends that we packed that morning.  For example toothbrushes, toothpaste, other items we needed to access that morning.   Before we boarded the train at 730.

(Why is she going on and on about THAT?  you might wonder.)

We arrived in The Windy City on time.  We had breakfast at Lou Mitchell's.  A delicious omelet, toast, hash browns, and coffee.  We chatted with the hostess/owner and with our waiter and our bus boys who are of course men  not boys.  And then we walked through downtown on a fine fall day, not too windy or cold, but brisk and sunny, until we arrived at The Chicago Cultural Center.  Where we saw a great exhibit called Paint Paste Sticker:  Chicago Street Art.

It was about street art, in case you were wondering.  Graffiti etc.  I took some pictures, most of them didn't do the exhibits justice but here is a chair made of used spray paint cans!

 

 

 

After that we headed north to shop for shoes at DSW (we both got new tennies!) and for books at Unabridged Bookstore where The Player got a couple books and I got a couple ideas for my next read.  Right now I am reading The History of Love which is very absorbing and lovely and entertaining and I can't bring myself to buy another book yet. 

 

Then we checked into our hotel which I had booked on Hotwire and took a nap, because we are not used to so much walking around a busy city.

 

At about 5, I woke up from the nap, and started looking for my eyedrops.  I couldn't find the little blue zippered container I had packed them in.  I remembered asking The Player to put them in his backpack in the morning because mine was kind of full. 

 

I looked through his backpack, all the drawers, in the closet, the bathroom.

 

Well, a few missed eyedrops isn't the end of the world, right?

 

But my lantus insulin was also in the bag.  So I woke The Player and asked him where he had put it.

 

He started looking.  And we looked some more.  And he went downstairs to see if it had fallen out of his bag in the room where we had checked our backpacks earlier in the day.

 

No.

By now I am on my iPhone googling Amtrak to see if there is another train home.  Because I don't want to die in Chicago, and then find out this:  (from the street art exhibit earlier mentioned)

 

So it's not the BEST piece of street art, but appropros for sure!

 

 

Yes, there is another train.  It leaves at 7 p.m.  We quickly repack up our stuff and check out of the hotel.  The dude at the desk asks if we used anything at the minibar.  Heck no, I say, we didn't have time.  All we did was take a $277 nap!!

 

Because with Hotwire there is no refund.

 

We hop the subway and head back downtown, walk quickly across town to Union Station.  Where we discover

 

The 7:00 train is sold out. 

 

We go see The Amtrak Supervisor, who is very nice.  She goes in the back room to talk to The Amtrak Manager, who never actually appears, (I suspect he is a robot) but who miraculously makes 3 new seats appear on the train and we rush back over to the ticket agents who then sell us 2 of the last 3 seats on the train!

 

Once we are on the train we start laughing.  Then I texted The Player even though he was sitting right next to me with this message:  "You won't believe what my boyfriend did today!!"  When he texted back "what?"  I texted "I forget."  Then we laughed some more.  And I read more of The History of Love.

 

We arrive home.  We still can't find the danged blue zippered bag for a while (though I have lots of spare insulin in the fridge of course, because I don't want to die in Normal and then find out if I am reborn my diabetes still remains, either) and then we finally do find it on the coffee table, where it was put during some minor rearrangement of packing that morning.

 

The Player feels so bad that he goes to The Jewel and buys me some wine.  I make us some dinner.  The dog and cat are ecstatic that we are home.  We fall into our very comfortable bed and sleep through the night for free!

 

It all evens out in the end.