THOUGHTS CONCERNING SHARING A PAIR OF HEADPHONES AT 39,000 FEET
It's 6:30 pm, I'm 90 minutes from my destination and I smell like sun screen and stale French fries.
The plane is a frozen air-conditioned tundra, complete with at least two screaming children and a big-boned man in flip flops who keeps leaning his chair back into my very limited personal space. Someone nearby me is making squelching sounds as they indiscretely clean their teeth. For a moment I think I might actually be in some form of purgatory. Why did I get Fresca instead of, I don't know, Fresca with vodka?
The two people next to me are an older couple with tanned skin dressed in khaki bermuda shorts and white linen shirts. They look like seasoned citizens of Utah. The woman pulls out a small case from under her seat to reveal a DVD player, circa 2004 at the latest. She plugs in a pair of headphones into the jack, and her husband grabs the right ear bud as she grabs the left. They resume their film, quietly tucking into a packet of red vines and wrapping the complimentary Delta blankets around their shoulders.
It's a simple gesture, sharing a set of headphones and this piece of outdated technology to replicate a now-nostalgic almost date night-like experience. And it's oddly touching.
It reminds me of riding in the back seat with my best friend on family road trips, sharing the headphones of a (now ancient) iPod. There would be those jams with split audio, so when Queen came on, one of us would get far more electronic guitar and the other would get more drums. We took advantage of it by perfecting our air band skills. These were good times. Simpler times.
I think about plugging in my own set of headphones. But then I remember the only music that survived my last hard drive crash was three different versions of R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)." I'm not sure if listening to these on loop will help my current sanity.
Maybe I'll just join in on watching HGTV via the overhead screens. Maybe I'll try reading or -don't jinx it- get some work done (???!). Or maybe I'll just sit here and reminisce and think about the many metaphors tied to sharing a pair of headphones with someone close to your heart.