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A friend of mine who moved from Chicago several years ago was grappling recently with a job offer back in her hometown.

She already had a great job with a good boss, made plenty of new friends and grew to love the city where she was living and working.

But the possibility of moving home was alluring — even during a pandemic with no certainty of long-term job security. She agonized over the decision and asked me for advice. I told her to follow her heart, knowing it was a cliche but also knowing what her answer eventually would be.

When it comes to Chicago, the answer is always the same, as Candace Parker revealed Tuesday when explaining her decision to return home to play for the Chicago Sky.

“It just felt like the right decision,” she said. “Coming home to Chicago and playing in front of the fans, the city, the people I grew up in front of, and (I) have obviously evolved and a lot of that had to do with me living in Knoxville and Los Angeles and Russia and China. I’ve had so much development since I’ve left here. … It’s more so about joining Chicago and the connections I have.”

Parker talked about playing in front of her grandmother and reuniting with her oldest friend and dreaming about their kids building snowmen together next winter. She mentioned a photo of her and Sky teammate Allie Quigley from their high school days at Naperville Central and Joliet Catholic. And she recalled a lesson learned from Pat Summitt, her college coach and University of Tennessee legend, on the need to stay connected with the ones you love.

“Relationships are super, super, super important to me,” she said. “And I’ve always been taught by Coach Summitt to chase people and passion, and I felt like that’s what the Chicago Sky had to offer and obviously (being) surrounded with Chicago and where I’m from.

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“It was a difficult, difficult decision, but ultimately I chose the Sky because I wanted to follow my heart.”

Parker is one of Chicago’s very own, and there may be no other big city in the world that treats its own like we do.

You can leave Chicago, but it never really leaves you.

Just ask Jennifer Hudson, Vince Vaughn, Chris Chelios, Bob Newhart, Bill Murray, Billy Corgan, Dwyane Wade, John Cusack, Eddie Vedder or any number of famous people born and raised here. They’re treated like stars wherever they go and treated like one of us when they come home.

You wonder why we stay here sometimes, with the taxes, the carjackings, the agonizingly long winters and the way too short summers. There’s a lot to complain about living in Chicago — and we always do. It’s one of our favorite pastimes.

I thought of this Saturday when my car got stuck in a snowdrift late that night and I considered abandoning it in the street. Two strangers who happened to be walking by helped push me out. When it comes to getting stuck in a snow-related disaster, there might be no other place you’d rather be than Chicago.

Parker could’ve stayed in sunny Los Angeles and ended her Hall of Fame career without blinking an eye. It would’ve been much easier. She’s already a talented analyst on NBA games for TNT and doesn’t have to worry about a post-basketball career.

That she decided to come home and try to make the Sky a force on the Chicago sports scene was a risky move but one she had no qualms about.

It’s not always easy being the hometown hero.

Former Simeon star Derrick Rose was at the top of the world with the Chicago Bulls before a series of injuries brought him down, and some fans vilified him for never returning to form. Chelios was a Chicago Blackhawks legend who helped revitalize the Near West Side with Cheli’s Chili Bar near the old Chicago Stadium, but he later was booed when he returned home with the hated Detroit Red Wings. Isiah Thomas was the pride of St. Joseph High School but went on to be the much-despised rival of the Michael Jordan-era Bulls when he starred for the Detroit Pistons.

The Sky can expect much more media coverage with Parker in the house. But if the team doesn’t live up to its hype, it will be Parker’s burden to bear. Parker said she spoke to Wade and Kevin Durant about leaving your comfort zone for a new team after years of being the face of a franchise.

“Both had completely different experiences,” she said. “Dwyane Wade coming back to Chicago and going to Cleveland and going back to Miami. And Kevin Durant going to Golden State, which took a lot, and now to the Brooklyn Nets. The biggest thing I got from them is you need to follow your heart, follow what you want and what you desire and let all that other stuff take care of itself.

“So that’s what I ultimately did.”

The easy part is over for Parker. Soon she’ll be facing the pressures of being a star athlete in a sports-crazed town with family and friends tugging at her every day.

But at least she’s back home in Chicago.

And if her car ever gets stuck in the snow, we’ve got her back.