Detroit, what.

I made a trip home this weekend to enjoy the company of my family, including Dr. Katie Whorf. Katie is finishing her final year of medical school at George Washington University and is hoping for a rockin' OB/GYN placement for the summer. She is going to be an amazing doctor.

I had a great dinner at Katie's mom's house in Keego Harbor. The house has this amazing effect on people----its like being Up North. Love it. It is even better in the winter. Snow, great conversation, Van Morrison on the radio, wine, sweatpants....it brings warmth to my heart.

I also spent some time with my Pepe (grandfather). We usually meet at his house in Grosse Pointe and head down to the Eastern Market, a weekend favorite. Several bags of produce later, we head over to Louie's for breakfast. A very nice Albanian man, Mark, owns it. He is what the American dream really is----came here, started a business from the ground up and now is a successful restaurant owner. Louie's is a Detroit institution. Great food, great people.
After breakfast, Pepe decided we were going to take a different route to get back home, heading through "the ol' neighborhood." My dad grew up on the East side of Detroit, near Chandler Park. He attended St. Ignatius for grade school and then went on the Austin Catholic for high school. Sadly, they are both closed now. Driving down his old street, it became very apparent how desperate and sad the city of Detroit really is. My Pepe said he would never take my grandmother down Corbett Ave., knowing she'd cry at the sight of the burned down or boarded up houses. In the early fifties, the East side was a great place to raise a family. Safe streets, great neighbors. These days, one would not dare drive down these streets. It was really hard to look at his face as he passed by houses he once knew-----now, the street numbers hang off the facade, windows are broken, garbage in the driveways. It was really sad. I started to think about my own feelings of Detroit, which I still consider my hometown. While I spent most of my childhood north of the city, I was born on the East side--St. John's Hospital. I am proud of my Mack and Outer Drive address. I get warm and fuzzy reliving my childhood listening to Tiger games on the radio announced by Ernie Harwell. I remember going to Belle Isle to feed the ducks, and summers spent attending the Boat Races on The River. Today, the economy, the Lions, and bad press aren't helping the situation. However, I still believe in a city that once was. I pray everyday that the leaders of Detroit will get their act together, putting their agendas aside to rebuild a city that used to be a beacon for business and culture.