A song shared at the right moment can become part of a friendship’s private language.

Friendships build their own vocabulary out of small accidents. A song sent at the right hour, when someone was low or elated or driving home at two in the morning, attaches itself to that moment and afterward means something no dictionary would carry. Years later a few bars can say the whole thing without a word being exchanged. These references cannot be planned; they can only be allowed.

Send the thing that made you think of someone, without an explanation or an apology for its being random. Most of these small offerings land unremarkably. A few become permanent.