Grace Episcopal Church

So the second day of our Chicago trip did not go as well as our first day. I was up before the dead and before Janie because I had to get to my conference early. I ordered an uber and met him outside of the hotel. My Uber driver was Joel and he was a great conversationalist. He started off asking me what I thought of Chicago in which I responded that it was a nice little town. He was dumbfounded and was surprised I referenced Chicago as a "little town". He told me.how the city has really worked.on cleaning up the area for.the.past 10 years to help with tourism. I asked him the best place to eat and he asked me if I was asking because of his big belly. I laughed and said no. He told me since I have never had a deep dish pizza (which he was jokingly flaberghasted that I had never had one) he suggested Giovanni's and for a fantastic Italian restaurant he recommended _________. He asked where i was feom which i told him. He told me that he owned a home by the beach in LA and rents it out to flight attendants. I let him know where I live in California is much farther from his house and asked if he heard about the Oroville Dam that almost collapsed as a reference to while he replied jokingly "We do get national news here, ya know." We both laughed. I told him how we lived very close to Napa and that him and his wife should visit there. He said that his wife and sister in laws need to visit but He didn't want to go with a bunch of cackling hens. He then asked what convention I was attending. I was surprised to find out his wife was a nursing manager at the local hospital. I found that oddly interesting that I was in the same type of roll. I failed to mention i was a nursing supervisor when i told him I was going to the Pediatric conference. Then he started talking about how his wife and him love to go on cruises. I told him that we love cruising too! I was surprised how much we had in common. He dropped me off at the convention center and I signed in and picked up my welcome information. I knew it was a little time before my class so I sat and ruffled through my stuff. I reached for my phone to check the time, but couldn't find It! I looked everywhere!!!!! I started to panic. I had no way of getting a hold of anyone, couldnt order an Uber, had all my info on my phone. All I could think of was if someone gets into that Uber after me, they will take my phone and I will never see it again! I asked someone at the conference if I could use their phone to call mine, but I knew It was on silent!!!!! Even worse!!!!! I did not have Janie's number memorized so I couldn't call her and have her work on it while I was in class. Thank God I still had my purse and wallet so I could get a cab back to the hotel or I would have been screwed since I couldn't get a hold of Janie. When I got to the hotel, Janie was downstairs waiting for me and people watching like she does. She could tell something was wrong. I went straight to the check in desk and asked if anyone turned in a cell phone. She asked are you Jennifer Wren? I said, yes! I thought, no way........ the clerk told me a gentleman came in asking for you saying he had my cell phone
Once he was able to verify I was staying there, he left his name and number to call. She said he would not leave the phone with us. I called right away and he said that he realized it a little after I got out of the car. He knew he wouldn't have been able to find me in the conference so he left my phone next to him and waiting for my call. I told him I did call but my phone was on silent
He said he wondered why he didn't hear from me... lol. He was already home for the day and was about 30 minutes out So he would being my phone the next day and since he started at 4 am (which I was not going to be up for) he would leave it at the check in desk. The RELIEF I felt, was second to none! Now I could breathe and of course eat!

Janie and I sat at the bar for happy hour in the hotel. After that we went looking around and went to the famous Portillos for hot dogs and a chocolate cake shake. It definitely did not disappoint! We turned in kind of early because I had to wake up early again for the conference the next day. The stress of the day had definitely got to me.Read more