Sweet Home Chicago
Chicago is known for many things. A city of skyscrapers, a food town, a music town, and a sports town. It gets a bad wrap, or maybe a fair wrap, on crime compared to other big cities. What you may not know about is the water.
One day while working at a large broker downtown, I walked across the Chicago River and found Streeterville. Named after its founder George Streeter in the last 1800s, this area is where Lake Michigan meets or intersects the Chicago River.
Soon I moved to the neighborhood, ended my commute downtown, and began walking to work across the iconic Columbus Drive Bridge. The city’s eastern edge offers beautiful views and sunrises, boats and riverboat cruises on the lake and river, walks along the riverfront or lakefront, and a cluster of lovely restaurants and bars. If you visit the Windy City, be sure to enjoy the waterfront.
Before the pandemic, I left the city of big shoulders to join a South Florida cyber insurance startup. We did not know what was coming and how it would change us.
As I wrote my first book, took two advanced courses in cyber resilience, and founded my company, The Cyber Dawn, LLC, I realized how much I missed my family and friends. We had survived something unimaginable, and I would need to reconnect with them soon.
I have been fortunate to live and work in many places and meet wonderful people. Keeping the connection takes effort. Some relationships last, and others drift away.
I will forever treasure my time in Florida and the wonderful community of people I have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know. Networking saved me during the Covid-19 lockdown in a new city, Boca Raton, FL. This year based in Delray Beach has been even more special with the community known as the “tribe” in Coffee with Kelly and the South Florida Tech Hub members working hard to build the tech hub in South Florida. Thank you for all you do!
This week, as I drove up, saw the Chicago Skyline, and walked along the lakefront, it sealed the deal. I am home.
With a song in my heart and a spring in my step, I am back in Sweet Home Chicago.
Image by Dawn Kristy
