Two Cities, One Very Valuable Lesson or Realization (It’s just how you look at it)

You are probably thinking, by two cities I am referring to New York and Chicago. Well, you are right on one of them. Can you guess which one? Oh, I think you can, yes one of them is New York. Was that really so hard? Well here is the hard part, if the other city I am referring to is not Chicago, which is it? Hmmm, I’ll give you a hint.




Did that help? Probably for a few people. Well I won’t keep you in much more suspense, yes that picture is of Kansas City. Kansas City, Missouri that is, not to be confused with Kansas City, Kansas which I saw from across the river.

I had the opportunity to make my first visit to Kansas City, or KC as its sweet locals like to call it. I was there on business and my incredibly kind and accommodating colleague Ashley chauffeured me to all of our meetings, and even took me to one of her favorite Barbeque joints.


Something, I never knew about KC is that there is a very large and growing artist community in the city. Also, there has been a lot of attention to architecture and some of the buildings going up are quite impressive. It was a first experience to a city where my expectations were exceeded. I am looking forward to visiting again.

Thank you Kansas City.


Now, the moment you have been waiting for or at least I hope you were. My recent weekend back in New York City, or as you would have to be living under a rock to not know it as (come to think of it I am sure even rock’s know) NYC!!! There is something so beautiful about typing those three letters together. I find it melodic. I will say although I enjoyed making this a trip a surprise and people’s reactions were priceless, it is very difficult to see everyone when they don’t know you are coming.

You know what else is so beautiful about NYC? My Beautiful Family and Dear Friends. Brandy’s Birthday Party was amazing and her apartment is one for the style books. Ayaz, Dave, Cindy, Greg, Erica and Gregor look phenomenal and seem to have adjusted to my moving (I just had to throw that in). They are all doing very well and I am so happy to have seen them. Take a look at these photos.


On Saturday night, I saw my father and two brothers for my older brother’s birthday. Josh’s very sweet girlfriend Jolene joined us too. Of course I forgot my camera that night, but it was a great dinner!

My mom was not in attendance because she has the pleasure of visiting my sister, brother-in-law and nephew at their brand new apartment in Roma. I can’t wait to visit!!








Well, if you have read this far, thank you. Now for that Very Valuable Lesson. What is it about NYC and KC that taught Jeremy a very valuable lesson? Maybe it’s more clarity. Can two very different cities honestly teach someone the same lesson? In this case, yes. You know what that lesson is for me (Those still reading are saying FINALLY HIS POINT!), this lesson, this realization is that I made one very SMART decision to move to Chicagoland. Did anyone else GASP besides me?





Visiting these two cities got me excited to come back and really dive into the waves of this somewhat misunderstood city of Chicago. As many people know about me, I had craved for a while moving to a new city and Chicago was the best choice for me. I am more observant, which is refreshing and enlivening. Sure, we can all learn new things from ay place we live, but this is one of those feelings where you just know that this was the fit you were looking for at this point in your life. This was just that very special goodness that I felt without even needing to know why, I just knew it. Kind of like that goodness I discovered recently when I met this very special guy in NYC, but that’s a story for another time.