G & Jane's big adventure

DH and I have lived near Chicago for all our married lives, but have only been going to the city for the past ten years or so. Going "down town" has been a big deal.

Seven years ago, in our own neighborhood, we witnessed a fatal traffic accident between a young man and a police officer. Both were at fault, but the young man was killed. Right at first we did not stop and make a statement, but within a week we called the state police and stated we had witnessed the accident. Two or three years ago the Village the accident happened in settled with the family, and today DH and I were subpoenaed to appear as witnesses in a trial. The police officer was suing the estate of the young man who was killed for the injuries she had received in the accident. We were witnesses for the estate of the young man.

Both DH and I were nervous this morning. This was a new experience for me, and at my age, I can go for months without a new experience! The courtroom was in room 2010 (20th floor) of the Daley building down town Chicago.



This is the view out the window on that floor. Lake Michigan was so beautiful shining in the sun, the rest of the city was under cloud cover.

While I was waiting to testify, I got some stitches in on my travel project, and I got to use my new Little Gems scissors. It is allowed on airplanes, so I was quite sure it would be allowed into the Federal building. It went through without a problem. (I got the fuchsia one.)

Both DH and I testified without any mess ups, but I don't know if we will ever find out what happened. After I was done the young man's mother got permission to speak to me and thanked me for being willing to speak up, and continue to do so for 7 years. I can't imagine having to deal with that type of loss for such a long period without being able to put it behind you!

After testifying we were free to go, but we had to wait down town for an emergency delivery from the bead store from my daughter. My beads spilled the other night, and I lost one of the crystals I needed to finish; fortunately DD lives near Caravan Beads and was able to stop there for me. So we walked around a little bit, saw the Picasso:



Another piece of art across the street:



The State of Illinois building (with a very nice Artisans of Illinois shop inside):



and all the local news vans gathering to cover the same story:



(The celebration of the anniversary of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities) Act.)

We also got to see our daughter, get the emergency delivery of beads, and have lunch together. I was going to stitch all afternoon after I got home, but I've been dozing on and off instead. I guess it's been too much excitement. I will get going now, I'm getting impatient to finish my Chatelaine "Indian Summer Afternoon" sampler.