Week 1
A new year was minutes away and I found myself sitting around on some couches at a party talking with some of my best friends. We were at my buddy Schreck’s apartment, located on the north side of Chicago. Cold bottles of champagne being passed around, holiday stories being told, hugs being exchanged and there I was, lucky enough to have some of my favorite people, my amazing girlfriend, and a cold glass of bubbly to kick off what l hope to be an amazing year. After a celebratory toast, a small champagne fight, some celebratory jeers, and a lovely new years kiss, my new year began…
New Year’s Day 2011 (Week 1)
As I rolled out of bed, I knew that today was going to be an excellent start to my year and a great kickoff for my 52 Why Nots. I had been planning my first “Why Not” for a few weeks prior and was ready and determined to achieve my goal. Fighting a slightly throbbing head from a few too many glasses of champagne the night before, I knew that nothing was going to slow me from completing this first adventure.
Luckily, I was able to convince/dare my brother and cousin to join me on my first idiotic quest. We hopped in the car after defending the deterring advisement from the girls and headed for the coast. It will not come to your surprise when I say the Chicago is a cold place. Chicago’s reputation as a bitterly cold land is no misinformed rumor. This is the inspiration for my week 1….an icy submergence into Lake Michigan.
We parked the car and walked out to the shore just east of the Lincoln Park Zoo. To our surprise, there were probably a few hundred people already out on the shoreline being idiots like ourselves. Let me tell you, this was A LOT worse than I thought it would be. The “windy” city held true to its name. The 20 degree weather, plus the cutting wind rushing in from the water made this why not seem a lot more appealing on paper than in its bitter and piercing reality. We decided it was time to make the plunge. The shoreline was iced over until the water was about 2 feet deep so we set the video camera on the ice and went for it. Surprisingly, the water didn’t have the shock at first that I thought it was. Not until I ran the 50 feet out into the water to try and tackle my cousin did I realize that my limbs were powerless and my hands were already completely numb. We ran back towards the shore, hopped up on the ice, dried off, and realized then that our bodies were not happy with us, AT ALL! We had completely no feeling in our hands and toes. The simple task of putting gloves on became impossible because you cant slide your fingers into holes that you can't sense. I honestly had no feeling in my fingers so I couldn’t tell which fingers weren’t going in their correct spots. It was by only site that I could align my fingers correctly. We ended up making it back to the car and painfully thawing in the full-throttled heater vents, resulting in a successful Lake Michigan Polar Bear Plunge. :-)
To be honest, though painful, pointless, dangerous, and quite dumb, this journey was a success and now I can always say that I've jumped in Lake Michigan on Jan 1st. Week number 1....success!
