chasing sunshine
What this episode is about
a little bit of SUNshine is a show about the moments that quietly reshape how someone sees their life, told in their own words. In this episode, Peter talks about growing up in Southern California, in the sunshine he says he took for granted at the time, and choosing art school in Chicago mostly because it was as far from home as he could get. He did not visit first. He sold his car, packed a bag, and got on a plane, on purpose choosing the version of the trip with the least amount of familiar left in it.
His very first ride in a cab, from the airport to his dorm, turned into an unplanned tour of the city, the driver pointing out neighborhoods, bars, where the young people hung out, all the way to Wrigleyville. Peter remembers watching the meter climb and doing the math on what this was going to cost him. What happened when they finally pulled up to the dorm is the reason he still calls it the moment that set the tone for his whole time in the city, an ethos he has tried to pay forward ever since. A few winters later, the city handed him a second story worth keeping, a storm severe enough to earn its own nickname, snowmageddon, and a doorway so packed with drifted snow that stepping through it felt, in his words, like walking into somewhere else entirely.
Now split back between Chicago and Southern California, Peter is candid that he has not landed on his next defining moment yet, and he is fine with that. His answer, when asked directly, was that he is still chasing it, through his work as a graphic designer, through raising two kids and trying to teach his ten year old the value of simply paying attention, and through staying open to whatever opportunity shows up next.
It runs 26 minutes, so it fits a commute or a walk. No advice, no framework, just one person's account of choosing the unfamiliar and staying open to whatever moment comes next.