Mondays with Mike: Hope springs eternal, until it doesn’t

Has it only been a week since last Monday? Well, yes, of course. But it feels like a lot’s happened.

The mayor-elect throws out the ceremonial first pitch.

For one, here in Chicago we’re going to have a new mayor. Lori Lightfoot, who was a long shot of a long shot when she announced her candidacy—won the election hands down. It was a landslide, and to me, a referendum on business as usual. I supported Lightfoot not because I’m certain she’s going to make everything right, but because for the first time, I had the chance to vote for someone completely unconnected to any of the usual Cook County/Chicago suspects. I felt I had to take that chance, and apparently, a lot of my fellow Chicagoans felt the same way.

Because Beth knows people (thanks Regan Burke and Evan Hatfield) we found ourselves at Lightfoot’s election night event at the Hilton, just a couple blocks away from our place.

It was a hoot. And a great crowd of what would’ve been, a few decades ago, a bunch of strange bedfellows. Chicago socialites, LGBT activists, black, white, and the best of all—a bunch of plumbers’ union members. Trust me, back in the day, that didn’t happen. The crowd mix was a reminder that for all the tumult, all that is wrong that needs to be set right, some things—by my lights—have gotten a lot better in my lifetime.

In all it was a happy, triumphant scene that bred optimism. It’s the best I’ve felt about things in Chicago in memory. Now, the work starts.

It’s kind of like opening day, when hope springs eternal, and the cold hard facts haven’t piled up to indicate otherwise. Speaking of which, thanks to the weather, our friends Don and Juli ended up with tickets to the White Sox home opener—the friends with whom they share season tickets couldn’t attend the rescheduled game.

Mike and Beth win, thanks to Don and Julie’s generosity.

And guess what?

The weather was great.

Lori Lightfoot threw out the first pitch, and did a fine job.

The White Sox won.

I’m sticking with the hope thing.