Honoring Friendship With a Playlist
Creating a repository of jams helps us sustain meaningful relationships
A few days ago, my dear friend, Sabrina Ford, texted me about building a playlist with her. She described it as “the cutest friend activity” and insisted “we need to do one.” I was sold instantly. Friendship in the time of Covid is challenging. So any activity to help maintain it is appreciated. And it involves music? Bet. Music is actually one of the ways Sabrina and I first connected.
More than a decade ago, Sabrina and I met while working at People magazine. We bonded over pop culture and concerts (we love us some Teedra Moses, Amel Larrieux, and The Internet), and lived within a 15-minute walk from each other in Harlem before she moved to Los Angeles nearly seven years ago. The distance between us didn’t chip away at our friendship. Instead we grew closer, interacting more now than when we were living in the same city. Before the pandemic, we would travel to see each other whenever we could. One of my last trips in 2020, before Covid changed everything, was to L.A. to watch the Lakers play the Trail Blazers with Sabrina. (When we made plans the month before, we had no idea that game would be played in tribute to Kobe Bryant, who died five days earlier.)
