Jamie Hilao

After a 5-day trip to the world’s best city, I’m pretty exhausted. In most ways, I couldn’t have asked for a better vacation, but since I got some pretty shitty news before I left, I’m sitting on the plane, not able to sleep & feeling sad to leave for reasons other than the usual.

I guess I’ll try not to think about it for now & focus on how well everything else went.

I’m usually not one to detail my trips - or even most of my daily adventures - in my blog, but it seems appropriate since I went so far as to publish our itinerary last week.

Most everyone - San, Johnny, Pradeep, Deepak & Troy - arrived by Friday afternoon. We took a tour of Millennium Park & checked out the Blues Festival for a bit. It wasn’t very crowded because of the crappy weather, but it was still fun checking out the park. I’m envious of you Chi’ers who get to enjoy the park during the summertime, something I’ve never gotten to do since it was built after I moved.

We took a cat nap while waiting for Datt-nerd to arrive, & then the Hell-A gang met up with some of my friends & family at Cafe Iberico. Even though it was a 1-1/2 hour wait, it was fun catching up with everyone at the bar (yes, the sangrias helped a bit). My sis surprised me by bringing our “long-lost” cousin, Jenny Ann. G. arrived in the middle of dinner to a rowdy group.

After dinner, we headed to Signature Room at the Hancock for a pre-party cocktail. Who cares if most of us were already buzzing from the ?? pitchers of sangria - the view at night was beautiful.

The group decided to go to SmartBar to hear French-born New York DJ Francois K. I was pretty obliterated by this time, & though I’m not into progressive, the music was awesome. It was great running into some old pals there too.

Before calling it night, we (minus me!) grabbed Chicago-style hot dogs from legendary Maxwell Street at 4 a.m.

We woke up late Saturday afternoon & headed over to Meggy’s 8th grade graduation party. I missed Lynn’s hula performance, but Meggy’s band waited for us before performing their cover of Weezer’s “Beverly Hills” called “Do Your Homework.” I met Meggy & Katleya’s punk rocker friends. It’s crazy to think Meggy will be in high school in the fall. Where did the time go?

After some Filipino food & scaraoke, we left the party to wait in line at Garrett’s popcorn. Some of us “tubby’s” left with 2 gallon tins - but I can understand why.

The group met up with more friends at Rodan’s for dinner. Food was decent & the Lychee martinis were tasty. We headed over to Funky Buddha Lounge (thanks for the hookup Lynn!). I wasn’t into the music, but the shots & company were fun. After enough R&B to last me for a while, I decided to take off to Sonotheque for some D&B. It’s probably my favorite new-ish bar in Chitown that I’ve checked out since I moved. More of my Chi friends showed up, but I don’t remember much of it.

We decided to kill time at Lasso’s for a late night snack before Johnny & San’s 6 a.m. flight back to LA-LA land. For the second night in a row, I finally went to bed at 5 a.m.

Before the rest of the group (minus G.) headed back home on Sunday, we enjoyed deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s.

G. & I spent some time vegging out after everyone left & late late night treated ourselves to Bob Chinn’s. We were too burned out to do much else on Sunday.

Monday morning it was G.’s turn to visit Millenium Park. After dropping him off at the airport, I met up with Kav for some catchup time over Tom Yum & a large bottle of sake at Star of Siam.

That evening, it was finally time for the event I came to Chitown for: Meggy’s graduation. I didn’t realize how sad I would feel, seeing him enter another phase of his life. I was chosen to be his godmother & cousin, but I hope our friendship will always remain strong.

The ceremony was short & sweet, & we celebrated afterwards at family favorite Hong Huah Chinese Restaurant. Weird how the owners still remember me, my bro & sis as wee youngun’s.

I spent the night chatting with Auntie, Meggy & Katleya. It felt great to be at my aunt’s home, even if only for a night. Auntie is like a second mother to me, & she did an amazing job putting everything together. She has raised two beautiful children, whom I think of as my own.

I didn’t get very good sleep after I heard the news, so I woke up bright & early to spend the morning with my family before I left. I feel kinda bad not spending more time with them, but I think they understand. I’ll be back briefly for Adam’s wedding in September, but who knows? Maybe I’ll make it back before Labor Day.

Too many goodbyes this week. Meggy said goodbye to grade school. I bade Chicago & my family farewell, at least for now. And Saturday is my last official day on the West side.

I’ve been sad saying goodbyes to many things in my life: good books, great loves, each apartment I’ve called my home at one point, my family.

But, I’ve finally learned to accept goodbyes as part of the journey. Because my experiences make up who I am, & I’ll always have the memories…

This entry was posted on Friday, June 16th, 2006 at 1:49 pm and is filed under Jamie, Family, Friends, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.