Orland Park is the town that you'll read or watch about in a typical high school movie. At some point we've all resented whoever made the choice for us to live in this town growing up, but we also have learned to love the O.P. at the same time. It's a weird love/hate relationship. So many people chose to stay here their whole lives, while others cannot wait to get out of this town. There are many signs to show that you grew up in this town a lot of us call home. Growing up in Orland Park led me to believe that there was so much to do in the town, but coming back after a year away at college forced me to realized there is nothing to do in Orland. If you're like me and your childhood was filled with many and maybe a lot of these memories, then you can relate to what growing up in this town was like.
If you grew up here:
1. You know LaGrange Road very well
Everything about this road gives you nightmares. There is not a point in time where you can remember it being free of construction. I'm not kidding. It feels as if your whole life has been spent avoiding LaGrange Road at all costs, or driving on it as little as possible because driving on that road can cause serious road rage. The traffic, the constant changes to the road that only seem to make it worse, and the time it takes to get from one stoplight to the next has all gotten to us at some point. At the rate that they're going, it seems as if you'll have kids or grandkids before the construction ever ends. This may seem dramatic but if you're from Orland you get it.
2. You lived at Centennial Pool
That pool is where memories were made. You felt so cool going with your friends without your parents having to be with you. Walking around unaware you were going from one pee-infested pool to the next was a blast. The cliff drop at the pool seemed so big and dangerous, and now looking back on it and realizing it was a 10-foot drop into a 12-foot pool, it seems embarrassing for how scared we were of it. Racing your friends down the waterslides was a must.
3. College friends have no clue where it is
If you go or went to school out of state, you more than likely have just told people you are from Chicago. Then you get that annoying person who is actually from the city and tells you to say where you're actually from. You say the south suburbs, but that isn't good enough for them. Once you say you're from Orland Park, they have no clue what you're talking about and you roll your eyes because you didn't want to go through all that in the first place. Or people from different parts of Illinois only know Tinley Park because of the concert venue there, but you know Orland is way better.
4. Sportsplex was your regular hangout
Sportsplex was where you went to ball, there is no other way to put it. This is where you went with your friends no matter what your sports abilities were, and played basketball. I don't think anyone went there to play any other sport as much as basketball was played. I guess this might be a little biased depending on what your favorite sport is. Sportsplex is where so many people had rock-climbing birthday parties growing up. The rock-climbing wall was so much fun and seemed so hard to climb. When you were looking for a food break, you'd then walk over to the nearby McDonalds and get some food. This was 110 percent the hangout spot.
5. Orland Square mall used to be your idea of fun
When you were taking some days off from balling at Sportsplex, you then hung around at Orland Square Mall. You couldn't drive when you were in junior high, so you had your parents or older siblings drop you off at the mall so you could hangout with friends. The thing was, you never exactly went shopping, you just kind of hung around doing nothing specific.
6. Centennial Park was the sporty hangout
This park was where your rec league baseball and softball games took place. Practices were held here, and it was just a big part of your childhood. Whether the time was spent watching friends or older siblings play, it was a great experience. Getting a slice of Big Jim's Pizza and sitting watching the game was a pastime for the sporty and even non-sporty kids of Orland.
7. Marcus Theater was a constant fixture
There's no way you grew up in Orland and did not go here. Like it's physically impossible. You'd go with girl and guy friends here and catch the latest movies, spending your parents money on ridiculously priced food and tickets. After your movie finished you'd feel so rebellious if you snuck into another theater. Growing up they had an arcade which they now got rid of where time was wasted before movies playing games. Marcus was all in all awesome, and a regular hangout. Now we don't go there unless it's $5 Tuesdays.
8. You went to O.J., Jerling, or Century Junior High
If you went to Carl Sandburg High School these are the junior highs most of the school went to. Okay, I guess there were a few Tinley Central kids thrown into the mix, but mostly from these three schools. If you went to Century you were seen as a rich kid; Jerling was for the bad "rebel" kids; and if you went to O.J., you weren't really known for anything. Which is good, but a little sad at the same time.
9. Orland Days was our mini-Six Flags
This was the fair that came to town for a few days. It randomly appeared in the parking lot of the train station on 153rd and a little bit around Centennial Park. It was full of fun rides that you and your friends went on, and trying to go back when you're older you realize just how young you looked when you went, and not cool at all.
10. You attended Carl Sandburg High School
Unless you went to Providence, this was where you spent four years of your life. For some people these four years were the best of their lives, and for others they were the worst. Regardless, it was an experience that we'll never forget. There were so many cliques and people constantly getting in trouble for the weirdest things. Not much changed there. You knew who sat by the vending machines, you knew who didn't. There was always the football games to look forward to in the fall, and basketball games in the winter. It was a typical high school, but the experiences made there were something we will all look back on one day.
11. Construction EVERYWHERE. Just everywhere.
You fail to remember a time in your life where some part of Orland Park was not under construction. You're pretty sure that the construction started during prehistoric times and as previously mentioned, LaGrange is the current disaster we're enduring. You just wanted to get some Chipotle, not be forced to sit in traffic for 10 minutes longer than necessary. You dread having to drive on streets that have construction because nobody in Orland knows how to operate a car properly when there is any sort of construction. You believe our Snapchat picture should just be a picture of construction because that is all that ever goes on.
Whether you're away at college, settled down here, or going to a local or community college, these things will always be a part of you. Orland Park was where all of your childhood memories took place, and you wouldn't want to change those for anything. Who knows where you'd be without all these people and things that helped shape you into the person you are today. Orland Park will always be a part of your past no matter where the future takes you.
