Dear Getting Ready Mix Tape That Belonged to my Freshman Roommate,
I was thinking about you the other day and I just thought I’d drop a note to say ‘hey’. What’s been up with you? Are you still hanging around any of the swim team members’ houses? Maybe you’re in a box in some suburban two-car garage along with other mementos from college years.
I was thinking about you because the Pina Colada song came on the radio – and that is one of your songs, remember? I remember watching her getting ready to go out. And some nights, you factored in to that, if it was her night to have you. I was so jealous. Not of you, exactly, but of her community, her access to a team of instant friends, enough friends who liked enough cheesy fun to pass around a blank tape and add songs, one by one, to make a communal mix.
She was so pretty, and nice, and athletic, and popular and you were a symbol of all that she had. You and the catalog worth of J. Crew she came back with after winter break.
I can’t remember the other songs. Do you think you’ll ever get the chance to write some of them down for me? I’ll include my address below.
-e.