Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Monday, June 18, 2007

That toddlin' town

Wow--Chicago's really, and literally, humming these days! I was only four years old when the 17-year-locusts made their first appearance during my lifetime in 1956, and living in a neighborhood of the city where there were few trees, so they didn't make an impression on me. Next time, 1973, I was 21, married, living in East Lansing, so I didn't experience them then. Next time was in 1990, when I was living in Duluth. But this time I just happened to be visiting my sister in Elmhurst, to take part in the annual Relay for Life, and WHOA! They're way cuter and more innocuous than army worms, that's for sure! But also way noisier--it was almost deafening at times.


And here she is, the bravest woman I know, my sister Mary. And that is all I have to say about that.