SAM I AM

…my thoughts from 35,000 feet high above Texas somewhere…

She was sitting next to me on the plane, and I noticed she was reading. I saw the book’s title and couldn’t help but smile. It was "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. I could only think of one thing, naturally…

I asked her how the book was and whether she was reading it for school or for pleasure. She told me she enjoyed the classics and was just reading it for pleasure. I asked her if she ever saw Garden State? Much to my surprise, she hadn’t. She’d heard of it though. I told her she simply must rent it. I told her there was a scene involving her book, but I didn’t want to spoil it for her so she’d just have to rent it and see for herself. I also told her the music soundtrack was awesome, too.

Then an idea hit me. I asked her what kind of music she liked. She gave me a typical “all kinds” response. So I asked her if she’d ever heard of The Shins? She said no. I told her to bear with me because I was going to act out one of the scenes from Garden State. I handed her my iPod and headphones and told her, “You gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life I swear.”

I watched her face like Samantha watched Andrew Largeman’s face as he listened to The Shin’s, "New Slang.” She nodded and smiled. She liked it. I told her to go ahead and listen to the other Shins songs I had on there. She liked them, too and said she was going to buy the CD *and* rent the movie.

It’s very rare that I converse with the person sitting next to me on an airplane. But it was enjoyable sharing music and talking about restaurant careers. Thanks Bridgette for letting me re-enact one of my all-time favorite movie moments.