About five years ago I was leading a growth group at church. On the first night a woman walked in. She was very quiet. She had blond wavy hair, bright blue eyes and she was wearing a Cubs shirt.
When the night wound down and we were all walking out, I stopped and asked her if she was from Chicago. My hometown.
She said “no”, but that she was a huge Cubs fan and it was on her bucket list to go to Wrigley field one day. I told her that would be a trip I would be willing to make since it’s where I’m from. Who could’ve imagined that night sealed the deal?
I quickly learned the lady’s name was Beth and we pretty quickly formed a friendship. That growth group stayed together for three years and over that time our friendship continued to grow.
Beth’s 40th birthday was in 2020. We (Beth, her cousin (and my friend) Emily, and I decided that was the year we were going to go see the Cubs. In the end of February we bought our tickets for an April 24th game — and then three weeks later the world shut down.
We’ve waited three long years to make this trip happen again. This year we finally pulled it together.
On Memorial Day we packed up the car and drove across the middle part of the country to the great Midwest. First stop — Dubuque Iowa — short 30 minute drive to Dyersville, IA to see the ‘Field of Dreams’ from the 1989 movie.
We woke on Tuesday morning and on recommendation from a local friend, we visited Charlotte’s Coffee House. A super cute, very friendly coffee shop with a great cup of Joe.
From there we headed on our way to Dyersville. Arriving at the Field feels just like you’re in the movie. You drive down a long gravel road and turn in the long driveway at the Farm. Corn had been planted, but it’s still early in the season so no fields of crops yet to see. Otherwise, it was just as it was in the movie — for now.
They even had bats, balls and gloves so you could hit a few balls on the field. We paid the $20 for the house tour and I highly recommend taking it. We learned a lot about the making of the movie, how the location was selected and future plans for expansion. I’m just glad we got to go before all that begins to happen,
We left the field and headed to the suburbs of Chicago near where I grew up. Home base was Schaumburg, IL for the week and our first stop on the Chicago culinary tour was Portillos. Beth had never had an Italian Beef sandwich and Emily has never had a Chicago dog. Check and Check!
Wednesday was the coupe de gras – Wrigley Field!! Beth and Emily sweetly invited me to invite my sister, Cathy. Cathy is a special needs adult and a Cubs fan that might just rival Beth’s love of them. We picked Cathy up from her home and we made our way to Clark & Addison street to see the Cubbies play. My brother scored us a great parking spot and our walk to the club was only a city block. Amazing!
My favorite photo from the day is this one…
It’s a single picture of Beth, taking in her personal “field of dreams”. It’s a quiet moment since we arrived as the gates opened, where she just got to stand for a moment and take it all in before the action began. Unfortunately the Cubbies did not bring home a “W” for us that day. But it was a good game and exciting to be there in person.
Wednesday night we went back to the ‘burbs and sampled some Chicago deep dish pizza at Lou Malnatis. It’s an experience for sure, especially if you’re a first-timer!!
Thursday my cousin joined in the fun and we headed North and West to Rockford, Illinois. Home of the Rockford Peaches All American Professional Women’s Baseball team back in the 40’s and 50’s. If you’ve ever seen “A League of Their Own” this should sound familiar to you. It’s not a huge attraction, but as stop #3 on the baseball tour, it was fun to see.
Friday was our only non-baseball day. We spent it from morning until evening in the big city!
We started the day at the world’s largest Starbucks, which happens to be a Starbucks Reserve. Five stories (if you include the small rooftop section). A floor for pastries/food, one for coffee, one is a bar and the main floor is the gift shop (which they need to step up, quite frankly). The coffee was good. Beth tried a cold brew flight — one of the coffee choices in the trio was aged in a whisky barrel. It smelled like whisky but was completely smooth and not bitter at all. It was a fun experience overall.
From there we headed to Navy Pier, ate a great dinner at the Greek Islands in Greek town, and closed out our day at Buckingham Fountain.
As much as this trip started for Beth, and as excited as I was to be a part of her bucket list in action, I don’t think I realized how much it would mean to me to bring people I adore to the place where it all started for me. Sharing stories of my childhood, reminiscing about my parents and my siblings, my upbringing, places I spent time and enjoyed being a kid and just starting out in adulthood meant so much to me. My heart swells a little every time I think of it.
I may have left Chicago at the young age of 22, but my love for the town has never waned. What a great week showing off all the sites to these amazing ladies!!
Shrinking Shay 
The process of blessing others has a way of fueling us. Sharing the love of baseball and your Chicago roots with friends has produced priceless treasured memories.
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