A love letter to my hometown, Oak Park

I sell houses in the town where I grew up. I chose to raise my children here for many reasons—my family lives here, there is fantastic proximity to Chicago, and most importantly, the progressive attitude of the community. What makes Oak Park progressive is something that is hard to explain in a few words. Sometimes it can best be expressed in a story….

My parents and I sometimes meet at FFC in the morning to take swim aerobics together. For those of you not so familiar, swim aerobics is generally attended by those who are pregnant, recovering from a surgery or other injury, or are over the age of 60. Like many group fitness classes, it is what you make of it. Some of the instructors are very hands on, others pretty much leave you alone to do the exercises correctly or in your own way, depending upon your skill level and overall attitude toward life on that day. Last Friday, we had a substitute instructor, a superfit, muscular man of indeterminable age, wearing a one piece spinning outfit, who reminded me of Lou Gossett Jr. in An Officer and a Gentleman. Uh oh, I thought to myself, we are in for a workout today!

We worked hard. Within the first 3 minutes, he zeroed in on me to correct something I was doing wrong. (I was doing it lazy-style, not wrong, actually, but who pays attention to one person when there are 25 people in an Olympic sized pool??) He asked my name, and the next thing I know, he had jumped into the pool (a first! I have never had an instructor jump into the pool during swim aerobics!) and was demonstrating the correct form. He did that throughout the class, jumping in and out of the pool, moving from person to person, always asking their name, sometimes shaking their hands, all while ensuring that everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing, and being very respectful of the abilities of some of the older people in the pool. Looking around, everyone was truly engaged in the class, laughing and smiling, although no one had the lung capacity for chitchat like we sometimes do…..

Toward the end of the class, as we were winding down, he had us all hold hands and make a circle. We sidestepped to the right and then changed directions on command to go left, sometimes very quickly, and during this exercise, he talked about the importance of keeping ourselves moving. Still holding hands, he instructed us to “bring it in” so that he could talk to us. We politely moved in, stopping before we got uncomfortably close. “Closer!” he said, and suddenly, one of the older women broke away from her friends whose hands she was holding, and opened her arms to Kareem. He hugged her back, and they both had huge smiles on their faces. She stepped back from him, batted her eyes at all of us, and said, “I was just following instructions!” It was a great moment. He shared with us that he has had struggles in his life, but that each day, he tries to truly live his life and do his very best. During these times of hate in the world, he said, it is important for all of us to show love to each other, to spread kindness to people throughout the day.

Back in the sixties, when many suburban communities experienced “white flight,” the citizens of Oak Park made a conscious choice to create a place where people of all backgrounds would be welcome. Some days we achieve it, and some days we don’t, but we keep it moving…..and find love and community in different places. Like the swimming pool at the health club. Kumbaya, my friends.