For many years I lived in Chicago, but when Ella got pregnant for the first time we had to make some hard choices.
The truth is that the Windy City is not a great place to raise a family, in my humble opinion. There is too much crime, chaos, and political upheaval, and it makes me nervous. Besides, in a big city like that there are no wide open spaces for children to play, and I think that is important for little kids. Ella and I decided to love out of the city, and settle down in the village of Orland Park. In some ways Orland Park seems very close to the city (because it is only 20 miles away) but in all honesty it feels like it’s a world away. Orland Park is a village with a low crime rate, a great school system, and a quiet way of life, which is the polar opposite of Chicago! Besides that, there are ample parks and nature trails, which makes the Orland Park area perfect for small children. The cherry on top, so to speak, was that the growth of Orland Park over the last 20 years has caused an upswell in demand for skilled construction workers and HVAC techs. I wouldn’t be able to afford to live in Orland Park without a good job, and the HVAC community there seemed to be thriving. Ella and I left the big city behind and found a modest home on the outskirts of Orland Park where we started our new life – and we never looked back!