Welcome the Return of Spring, Cheeriness and Non-Transparent Legs

Having lived in the Midwest my whole life, I often consider friendliness to be next to godliness. This 11th commandment of the upper Midwest goes beyond the indifference other regions call cordiality; it includes genuinely caring about the happiness of your city-mates, your region-mates, and genuinely anyone sharing this lovely planet with you.

For example, EL riders often bless sneezers, give up seats to wearied looking individuals and strike up conversations ranging from Blago to the new voiceovers on the CTA. In elevators people will tell you about the best long underwear, what fabric they are made of and where to find them for 40% off. On the sidewalk people will say hi, let you pet their dogs and give direction in such great detail they’ve walked you halfway to your destination by the time they are done.

I like to think this overt cheer is a natural Midwest trait and if it wasn’t also a natural Midwest trait to be humble, I would brag about it- especially to LA’ers.

But for the past few weeks the April blizzard followed by the April hail storm followed by a week of miserable cold seemed to freeze the time-honored tradition of niceties. On Monday a guy actually stepped on a foot on the EL and only offered me a grunted sorry instead of the customary foot massage with essential oils.

But with today’s high expected to hit 70 it appears the good will of Chicagoans has returned. Today I saw a guy hold the door to the el for rushing early morning suits, the RedEye lady “hoped I had a great day” and a juice delivery guy gave a traffic controller a free juice to start her morning.

Each little kind act of Midwestern friendliness added a little warmth to my heart on this already warming day. Awww cheesy.

My theory is that the Midwest is so frickin’ nice for two reasons. A) In the winter, you have to be nice to survive. You never know when you might need another warm body for heat. B) In the summer you are so relieved to survive the winter you just want to share you love with everyone until winter swallows you again.

I’m glad we are moving in B section of our niceties because honestly my legs were becoming translucent, and that just aint hott.