Fresh off a fine, if exhausting, conference in Chicago, I found myself somewhere over Nebraska with 623 miles yet to go and – finally – time to write a blog. But way too much to blog about. This was a first-ever national event for Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit I’ve worked for and with over the past dozen or more years. Here’s three days in Chicago, in a nutshell:
Wise speakers – Betty Rollin, Ellen Buchman, David Muller, Charlie Sabatino, Dear Abby to name a few – had wise words on the movement to improve care and expand choice at the end of life. Material for a gazillion blogs, but we’re supposed to get busy working for the cause, not just blogging about it. One nice thing: I got to sign books simultaneously with Betty Rollin and we both sold out. She brought a lot more books than I did.
Before the event I snatched a few hours to zip downtown on the Blue Line for a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago, one of my favorite museums on the planet. Its new building is impressive and grand, the Lichtenstein show is a blockbuster, but I still vote for the Impressionists.
After the event I snatched a few steamy hours to zip downtown again and take an architectural riverboat tour. I love Manhattan, my heart belongs to San Francisco, but for urban architecture (especially architecture one can enjoy from a riverboat tour) Chicago just can’t be beat. Even when it’s 80-something degrees.
Here, though, is the best part of a three-day trip to Chicago: coming home.