07/14/2025
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If these walls could talk…
While in Chicago for a wedding, we stopped by 345 E. Superior—the original RIC (Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago). This building holds 83 days of our lives that we will never forget. It’s where Lauren fought her way back to us. As painful and exhausting as that time was, this place became sacred ground for us.
It now stands vacant, with a newer, shinier version a block away—renamed the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. But this sidewalk… this building… they hold echoes of hope, fear, tears, and tiny victories.
Every morning, I would walk down that sidewalk clinging to hope. Every night, I’d walk it again, drained and tearful, wondering if healing would ever come. The amount of prayers and tears poured out here by families like ours is immeasurable.
This place shaped our story. It broke us and began to rebuild us. And for all of it—the pain, the progress, the people—we are forever grateful.
Thank you, RIC.