Sweet Home Chicago! If you're lucky enough to grow up in the shadow of the Second City, you know just how special Chicagoland truly is. From superior sports teams, fabulous food, and stunning skyscrapers, you consider yourself blessed to call the Windy City and her surrounding suburbs home. Here are the top 10 tell-tale signs you grew up in the suburbs of Chicago:
1. You always say you are from Chicago
Ah, yes! The greatest lie ever told by suburbanites! Don't you just hate it when people press you on your answer and you have to do the awkward, "Oh, umm, well actually I live about 40 miles out from the city..." But does that stop any of us from answering Chicago? Is deep dish God's greatest gift to mankind? It's really that simple of an answer.
2. Portillo's is life
Just because you don't technically live within city limits doesn't mean you don't eat like a true Chicagoan. In the suburbs, your birthday cake was Portillo's chocolate cake, graduation parties served catered Italian beef, and hot dogs NEVER had ketchup.
3. You lived your childhood on a soccer field
Most likely you've traveled to every single Chicago suburb in search of the local soccer field between the ages of eight to eighteen. If it's a flat piece of land that doesn't grow corn, it's most likely chalked with white lines and adorned by two goals. Game on!
4. Summer = Lolla
The day the Lollapaloza set-list is released should be a nationwide holiday. One humid, often rainy, long weekend in July, Chicago is raided with young people looking to have the time of their lives.
5. The Metra is your best friend
Metra? You mean the wheels of every suburbanite to get down to the city? You mean the setting of nearly every snap story sent in the summer? You mean every kid's best friend? (But can we stop and take a moment to discuss the fact that Metra doesn't have a college student discount?! And I thought we were friends!)
6. Chicago Christmas Shopping is a Tradition
The city at Christmas is some type of pure magic. Between the sparkling lights of Lincoln Park Zoo, the skating at Millennium Park, and the Christkridlmarket, shopping downtown in December is a tradition for nearly all of us suburbanites. Shopping at Marshal Field's (NOT MACY'S) is an experience like no other that truly fills you with holiday cheer!
7. You call it the Sears Tower
You want a sure-fire way to spot a Chicagoland imposter? Ask them for the name of the tallest building in country. If they answer anything other than "Sears Tower," they are wrong and should never be allowed to digest deep dish.
8. Lake Michigan hosts prom
The year your high school planned prom downtown was the best spring of your life. Whether it was the Shedd, the Field Museum, or a boat on the Lake, Chicago served as the perfect prom setting!
9. Sports are taken super seriously
Chicago sports are a religion that you are baptized into at birth. There are no greater trips downtown than to celebrate the greatest teams in the world parading through the greatest city in the world. You bleed Blackhawks' red, your lips turn blue tailgating da Bears, and you firmly defend your allegiance to the North Side or South Side baseball. We can't help it that Chicago is a city of winners!
10. There's no better place to call home
Growing up in the shadows of the Second City is a gift that is cherished by every suburbanite. From the fabulous food, superior sports, and the simply stunning skyline, being from the suburbs of Chicago is an expereince like no other!
