Now & Forever

I am so upset by this.

Daley fine with changing Sears to Willis Tower

I get the economics behind it. I get that times are tough and things change and nothing lasts forever. Come on though. This is the Sears Tower.

Until the early 90’s my Uncle Barry was an engineer at the tower. I remember him sneaking us up to the very tippy top of the tower via work elevators. Above the sky decks. Above the commoners. Above the clouds. Sure, there we no actual windows up in the very tippy top. It smelled like heat and steam and oil and sweat, but we knew where we were. We were up where even birds didn’t dare go. I’ve always held onto that memory.

From the hilltops of my home town, you could make out the city lights and the blinking of the tower on a clear night, full of dreams and promise. When we fly back into Midway, I always try to sit on the right side of the plane in hopes that the tower will be there to greet us on decent. When we leave I sit on the left to once again say goodbye.

There is so much in a name. I know this isn’t uncommon. I probably felt this way when Comisky Park was changed to U.S. Cellular Field too, despite my allegiance to the Cubbies and Wrigley Field at that point. And you know what, I still call Comisky just that. Comisky. That is it’s name. Just as you will never hear Sears Tower be called Willis by anyone who grew up with the city and the name.