When I was in school, the best gift you could give someone was a mixtape. Not a playlist, a real cassette. It was before CDs. To make one, you needed a special cassette player with a record button. You’d manually record each song, one by one, onto a blank tape.

Music was rare back then. You didn’t have all the music in the world at your fingertips. You had a few albums, and you cherished them. A mixtape felt personal—it was your friend’s handpicked selection, each song chosen with care. You never knew what to expect, and that made it exciting.

I thought about mixtapes today and realized: we’re all like one.
Each of us is a mix of “songs”—the way we react, the food we love, the things that make us laugh, even the quotes we repeat from our favorite shows. These experiences are like tracks on a tape, giving off vibes that shape how others see us.

And here’s the thing: every day, we play different songs. Sometimes people around us pick up on them. They understand the feeling, the “song” behind our actions, and it’s like finding someone who shares your music taste.

But occasionally, something rarer happens.
You meet someone, and it’s not just that they understand your songs—they start playing music with you. It’s like being in a band, creating harmony together. That feeling? It’s richer than being understood. It’s a connection to be treasured.

So, as we go through life adding songs to our mixtape, I hope the music we play resonates with others.