When I arrived in Chicago to visit my friend Julie, one of the first suggestions she made was that I go see “The Bean” in Millennium Park. A park of modern sculpture didn’t sound like a very good idea, and a sculpture that looked like a bean sounded especially terrible, but Julie was pretty insistent so we went.

The moment I saw it, I knew why she wanted me to go. It was my favorite part of Chicago (which is a really cool city). The Bean is giant and looks like a giant water drop distorting the view of the city and everyone who looks in it. It’s reflective, but not made of mirrors and in some places you can see eight reflections of yourself.

The Bean was wonderful and a good reminder that sometimes we need to stay open minded. I assumed I’d have no interest in it and then wound up loving it. Sometimes we don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do, and often we don’t truly understand something until we see it with our own eyes.