Tejano Blue
April 16th, 2025
Writer: Ryan Carter
Editor: Liv Bennis
The best gift I have ever received was my AirPod Pros. If you know me, you know I listen to music 23 hours of the day, not kidding. I will fall asleep to music, do work to music, walk to music, and even hang out with friends, still listening to music. It is the way the strings of the guitar vibrate, the subtle beat of the drums that bounces through my head, or the angelic voices that encapsulate me fully. It is how my body involuntarily bounces to the beat, transcending me into another world. When I have my AirPods in, I can experience any emotion I want, and I have full control over it. And because I listen to music so often, I usually have a specific memory attached to songs. Some remind me of high school, some of a certain person, some make me ache with nostalgia, while others make me laugh. And luckily, I found that song for a trip that will forever linger in my memory.
This past month, my 11 best friends and I traveled to Long Island, Bahamas, for spring break. We were all so excited to escape the cold, but nothing could have prepared us for that trip filled with love, laughter, warmth, good food, and tranquility.
The first time I heard Tejano Blue was at one of the wonders of the world: Dean's Blue Hole. Not many people know, but this is the third deepest hole in the world – approximately 663 feet deep. So, as we sat with our feet dipping into the hole, my roommate Lila took out her phone and queued this song. The melody started serendipitously. The sound of the guitar and slow drums made me sway with the waves as we sat in our harmonious silence all together. That was the moment the song first stood out to me.
The next time this song was played was when we came back from dinner at Max’s Conch Bar –a dinner restaurant off the only road on Long Island serving pretty much only conch – and we sat in the bed of my family’s red truck. You wouldn’t think 12 girls would fit comfortably in one truck bed, but somehow my friends and I instantly sank into each other, as if we were one body. We again sat in silence, listening to the Cigarette After Sex’s (CAS) dreamy, androgynous voice while watching the stars. Some of us even saw shooting stars!
For those 3:54 seconds, all we did was take in the amount of stars that constantly live above our heads, but get hidden by the light and smoke pollution. As we sat there for those minutes, we weren’t thinking about relationships, school, or clubs, we were just listening to music in the back of a red pick-up truck with all of our best friends under the Milky Way, simultaneously getting closer through the sound of CAS. Nothing could compare to that feeling.
The next memory I have with that song was when I was sitting on the porch before breakfast, taking in the beauty of the ocean as I watched the waves crash into the rocks below. As I sat embracing the song, I heard laughter coming from inside. Instinctively, I picked up my phone with the song playing, and followed the sound of happiness to find all my best friends making breakfast together. I stood at the doorway, rocking to the sound of the beat, and couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear. An immense amount of gratitude washed over me as I observed my friends running around each other, some scrambling to make 6 different batches of coffee for the group, some cheffing up, making eggs, some cutting up fruit that would be demolished in the next 2 minutes, and some just enjoying the company. At that moment, I knew I would never feel more love than I do from those 11 girls.
And my last memory may be the most powerful. It was the 7th and last night of our trip when we all decided to bring dinner to the beach. My parents curated the most delicious variety of food that we ate while the sun began to set. Luckily, we all finished our food right as the sun began to spew the beautiful orange, pink, red, and yellow hues. We all decided to take one last swim together and jumped into the natural lazy susan that pushed out into the sea. As we sat in knee-deep water, we queued up Tejano Blue. Chilly from the absence of the sun, we snuggled up together in the middle of the ocean, listening to the power of this song one last time. Tears came to my eyes as once again, I felt so grateful to be where I was with those girls under one of the most beautiful sunsets of my life. The rays of the sun radiated in the sky and glistened in the water, and the 12 of us hugged through it all. We were wrapped in nothing but love, gratitude, and warmth.
So, years from now, when life continues moving, and memories start to blur, Tejano Blue will be the song to bring me back to the best week of my life under the sun and stars of Long Island, Bahamas. Back to the red truck bed that granted me the gift of silently growing closer with my friends, the beautiful combination of the song’s melody and laughter as I watched from afar, and the most beautiful sunsets of my life, using my 11 best friends as my source for warmth. I will be reminded of the love we shared and the kind of happiness that feels infinite.
So, thank you, Lila, for giving me the song that will remind me of you and our friend group. And to my 11 best friends, thank you for giving me the memories to think back to with this song. Whenever I hear the beginning strums and beat of Tejano Blue, I will close my eyes, and for 3 minutes and 54 seconds, I’ll be right back there with all of you.
