So the weekend was spent in Elgin, a town I spent a great deal of time in over the course of my life.
Then Monday included my actual hometown, the place where, when I go there, they have to take me in. Apologies to Robert Frost.
So yesterday, where else would we go? The place that has allowed me to provide a roof over my head for the last 20 years 10 months and 11 days (but who's counting), Downers Grove, birthplace of Emo Phillips.
Emo. Phillips.
Really, that's his name. A comedian.
Really. What else would he be with a name like "Emo"?
But I digress.
We had a great day.
We started with a "home" visit at, of all places, Good Sam. It was a surprise visit for a friend of mine, put together by another friend after she heard we would be back at Good Sam this year. She asked if we could surprise Kate and I told her I thought that was a great idea.
We were scheduled to be there for a static display from 4 to 6 PM and that was publicized, but we managed to keep the secret from Kate. I got a text from her asking if she could by a shirt and I had to remember to say afternoon and not morning in my reply to her.
She came out a couple minutes early and even as she was walking toward the trucks she couldn't figure out why we were there so early or why her Mom and Dad and daughter were there.
Here's Kate, and her supporters.
By the way, people in lab coats don't take directions well. It took about four tries to get them into the picture and you can see the effort they put into raising their arms like I asked everyone to do.
Next, we went to visit Mickie and Bruce. When I talked to Bruce to explain to him what we'd like to do and asked if he'd like to surprise his wife he told me
"We've been married 47 years. There are no secrets between us. I'll plan it with her."
How great is that?
And, as you can see, she's very popular.
You're in luck! It's a Vickkkki sighting! They're very rare! Here we see Vickkkki not only hugging Mickie, but also showing her best side!
Just kidding Vickkki. Really. You'll find out why when I cover her in the MYPHTD edition about her.
After Mickie, we paid a visit to the home of local dignitary Geoff Neustedt. His Aunt Louise was in town from Novato, CA (a town I toured into in 2011). Aunt Lou is a 23 year survivor and has beaten cancer four times! She had no idea we were coming. She loved it!
And so did DAvid, pictured below with his Dad and Aunt Lou. Check out the "thumbs up" peeking out from the top of the bunker coat. David, btw, is an excellent fire truck washer, having paid a visit to Station 3 a few weeks back just as we were starting to clean the E-3.
In that case I never saw that kid before in my life, I swear.
Now, here's a thing. It's not at all unusual to get interviewed when we come into a new town. And, Sunday when we went to Barrington, a news crew from 365Barrington.com came to Good Shepherd to interview us. They were a couple of high school kids, and they did great. We had a lot of fun with them, but they took their job very seriously, despite our best efforts to clown around with them. If you'd like to check out their work, click here it really is pretty well done!
Back to DG...
We (holy crap we did a lot of stuff) did our final "home visit" at a local real estate office downtown.
Oh also? If anyone asks? At NO time did we EVER block off ANY public streets because, well, that would be WRONG and we are firm believers in law and order!
Ahem.
As I was saying...
Marie is an ovarian cancer survivor. I was put in touch with her daughter Annie and when I described to Annie what we do, she handled the rest. Did a great job too. Marie had no idea we were coming, I never heard at what point she figured out all the sirens and horns were for her, I'd be curious to learn her reaction. But when she came downstairs and saw what was waiting for her, she got quite a kick out of it. We posed for several pictures (I can't believe I don't have any :-/ ) and actually gave Marie a ride around the block.
We set up shop in beautiful downtown Downers Grove (feel free to borrow that line Linda) and talked to streetwalkers for a couple hours. Errr, I mean people walking along the streets, not... well... you know...
The Downtown Business District (Linda and Erin RAWK, btw) had huge plans for the day. But, SOMEBODY decided they couldn't do what they had planned. Something about an emergency something or other. Titles, who needs them, right?
Anyway, we had a great time talking to folks about what we do and why we do it until we went up to Good Sam where we did more of the same. I think we actually had a better crowd there this year than we did last year.
Wish I understood why.
I LOVE the PR staff there, btw. Jim and his people do an awesome job.
We finished up with a visit to Village Hall. We chatted with council members (most of them anyway, if @pek3234 reads this, I'll give him $5 if he figures out who was a no-show) and we posed for pictures and then we went inside for the meeting where we received a couple resolutions...
Hear ye, hear ye, August 6, 2013 was "Cares Enough To Wear Pink" day in Downers Grove and August is "Pink Heals Tour Month" in the state of Illinois.
We posed for a couple more pictures and then the Mayor asked me to say a few words.
What does it mean when the Mayor says I like to get up in front of the microphone???
OK, that's all I've got, I'll have to do a today update tomorrow, which means, well, you get the picture. It's late, we're pulling out at 5:4frickin5 in the morning. Long day. I love it.
Pink Heals!
Peace
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