I loved living in Ravenswood, a neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. Even the name was evocative of some kind of old-timey place rife with history and magic.

I lived in a giant one-bedroom apartment at the top of three full flights of stairs, carpeted in vibrant orange patterned carpeting that could make you dizzy–especially if you were returning home after being overserved at a nearby watering hole.

I’d found a company that drew illustrations of Chicago neighborhoods (now called Wonder City Studio) and bought a print of Ravenswood in 2018, and only just at the beginning of 2023 did I have it framed and hung up in my house.

I loved living there for so many reasons. The main one is that it’s the apartment where I lived when I met and fell in love with Ken. But I also loved moving from crowded Lakeview to a place that is quiet and serene by comparison. (Something I would do again when I moved from the city to the northwest suburbs in 2021.) Finding that neighborhood was like finding some secret no one else knew about.

I think we all probably have lived in a place like this: the place you think of that represents a certain beloved period of your life. When I think of the life I was living just before it intersected with Ken’s, this is the apartment I think of. The parties, Saturday Morning Services (a writing meet-up with my fellow Second City alums), and the breakfasts Ken I would walk to at a restaurant called “Joanne & Sons,” which he loved because his mother’s name is Joanne, who had three sons. (Spacca Napoli resides there now.)

I knew what frame I wanted it in, and as soon as I got it home and hung it up, it felt as if it had always been there. I love it so much. I also love that I get a birdseye view of that special place whenever I pass by.

I took a “companion” picture at the bend of the “L” in the print years ago on long walks I took the summer Ken died. After I got the print framed and hung, I had a large-scale version printed out and hung it nearby.

I smile when I think of Ravenswood. It represents so much happiness. I’ve lived in other wonderful places before, too. But there is something very special to me about Ravenswood. And, now, I’ve cast a spell that keeps it frozen in time on the walls of another place I love living.