05.29.25

I haven’t felt compelled to make a mix CD since I was a teenager. Sami and I used to exchange them — the soundtrack in my car was, essentially, dictated by her. I spent ages 16 to 21 driving around to music curated specifically by Sami — and also Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic (a superb, historic album) because I also had a hard copy of that.

Sami’s older sister reached out to me today. She and I were good friends in our two years of high school overlap — she was two years older than me, in my brother’s grade. We sat next to each other in Chorus and we were close. When she graduated, I became close friends with Sami, her sister two years my junior, and that relationship has sustained itself with more fervor. I haven’t talked to her sister in a while but I was happy to hear from her. She has two kids now, both boys.

I felt, for the first time in at least a decade, compelled to make a mix CD. I let my current playlist go and think, oh you would love this song. Oh I wish you could hear this lyric. Oh isn’t this melody so nice. I want you to only be able to listen to it from the CD player in your mom’s old car, driving around your hometown and wishing I was there to see the sights. I want it to only be played in this order that I chose. I want you to think, “I love this song,” and remember it was me who it came from. Do you think about me when I’m not around? Have you heard “Workhorse” by Renny Conti?