![City of Lights [Tokyo, Japan]](https://i0.wp.com/headbeyondhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20190605_123426.1-rotated.jpg?fit=1170%2C1560&ssl=1)
The one with crossing the Pacific.
Author: sw.
I'm an Oklahoma native who feels restless in both body and spirit.
I write in my spare time, but, mostly, I want to feel connected to the larger world around me. I've spent the majority of my life in a haze, and part of the process of returning to myself has been to write recollections and share more of myself with others.
![The Windy City – Part 4 [Chicago, USA]](https://i0.wp.com/headbeyondhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20160516_170108.jpg?fit=1170%2C658&ssl=1)
The Windy City – Part 4 [Chicago, USA]
May 17, 2016 Nora and I spent our last day wandering the streets of her city. We weaved in and out of the busy streets,
![House of Magic [Chicago, USA]](https://i0.wp.com/headbeyondhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20160513_1750201.jpg?fit=1170%2C658&ssl=1)
House of Magic [Chicago, USA]
May 13, 2016 That morning, you couldn’t have told me Nora and I would literally flag down a passenger train on the side of the
![Wandering Orchestra [Chicago, IL]](https://i0.wp.com/headbeyondhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20160513_2228261.jpg?fit=1170%2C658&ssl=1)
Wandering Orchestra [Chicago, IL]
When I finally made it to Chicago, touching down in O’Hare to one of the busiest airports I had been to thus far in my short life, Nora and I absolutely ran to one another when we finally spotted one another in the crowd. Through the crowd I spotted her, the mop of brown hair and glasses matching mine. The elation I felt after having gone so long without seeing her practically bowled us both over.
![The Windy City – Part 1 [Chicago, USA]](https://i0.wp.com/headbeyondhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/IMG_20160516_2027491.jpg?fit=1170%2C1170&ssl=1)
The Windy City – Part 1 [Chicago, USA]
I’d traveled to Chicago plenty of times before–with my mom, with my dad’s family, with the high school band on an excursion to one of the wind ensemble clinics within the city. However, this was the first large trip I would take on my own, without anyone else to keep me company.
![Step One [Clearwater Beach, Florida]](https://i0.wp.com/headbeyondhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20160806_1912312832396941748661579-e1560968284268-2771061265-1561308531814.jpg?fit=1170%2C1042&ssl=1)
Step One [Clearwater Beach, Florida]
As a child, I spent frequent summers traveling back and forth between the Florida beaches and my home state of Oklahoma, going from where the sun shone down, beating, on the pavement below to the Sunshine State where it settled instead on the push and pull of waves crashing against the shore. I didn’t question my privilege to explore the open world, then–I didn’t think to, not at the time. I was lucky.
Start (Player One)
I’ve spent the majority of my life not knowing where I was heading. The memories are fuzzy in some places, solid in others. Sunlight streaming