John & I were fortunate enough to get a chance to participate in a luncheon yesterday honoring a high level Chinese trade delegation. To begin with, we ate at the Union League Club. A. Maz. Ing!!! It's unbelievable. The architecture is phenomenal, but when you walk through and check out their art collection...wow! It honestly knocked my socks off. I am not sure if John was as impressed as I was, but it was quite awesome. I mean come on, they had a Monet!!!
The next part that was awesome was meeting with this delegation from China who purchase 25% of the soybeans produced in IL! That's amazing!!!!! Every fourth row of soybeans grown in IL goes to China via the Mississippi River. Thank God we got those FTAs worked out finally. The delegation had lots of questions about corn vs. beans (which farmers prefer to grow and store), cash rent vs. owning (which cash flows better...HA!), and future trade goals for IL farmers. I was fortunate enough to get a chance to sit with the translator for the group, so conversation flowed fairly freely at our table. I also sat next to a staffer for Mark Kirk (IL Senator) who is responsible for his agriculture policy. It was nice to get a chance to talk to him and get some real answers, and do some lobbying, also! BTW, the Senator is doing well in his recovery.
Finally...this is the crazy part...I was speaking with another one of the Senator's staffers. I asked where they were from originally. The one said he was from Glenview, which is a northern suburb very near where I grew up. I explained that I knew Glenview because my childhood dentist (whom I adored) was in Glenview. He asked who...so I said...turns out it was his father! Can you believe it? What a small world. I enjoy making connections with people, but that one just fell into my lap. So neat. We were honored to be asked to represent the Soybean Assn and be part of a wonderful day.
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