not so long ago...

...Chicago was my home-away-from-home, a city in which I felt pretty much at ease and a place that I knew, at least in relative terms, better than many. Tied to what was my longest and most enduring relationship before now, the mere mention of its name can, and does, bring forth a real flood of memories; many are invariably fond, some not so, yet whatever the history she and I might share, hers is a skyline, a brand of living, toward which I can feel only affection.

Though little now remains for me there, I did leave a very dear friend behind, one of those "Bloody hell! Dude, I feel like I've known you my whole life - or should have" kind of people - we all come to know one or two of those along the way - one with whom I have some very peculiar things in common. He's not someone I expected to see again any time soon, and indeed it has been a couple of years, but that all changed today, sometime after four; it has been a seemingly brief, but altogether wonderful afternoon and evening of catching up. As a matter of circumstance, occasions like this are few and far between, whether or not their succession rests in our own hands, but it happened, and I am as chuffed as a chap can be.