Now you're probably guessing who 'Teerisara' is, that is my middle name/ given Thai name.
I believe that one of the closest things we have to magic, is love. For me, it came out of the blue, unexpected, not asked for, and it hit like a thunderstorm.
James Chardon.
As I was sitting there with my friends at one of my favorite restaurants in Beverly Hills, he walks in. Dressed head to toe in black. Giving him a shy smile, I make my way through the crowd, grab his hand, and led him to our section. He politely introduced himself to my friends, then continued to introduce himself to the group of older women to our left. (In my head I thought he might have known them somehow, and in his head, he thought they were also a part of my group. We had quite a laugh about this later on.) Sitting there, among the thumping music and giggles with my friends, little did I know that it was the start of one of the most amazing adventures in my life.
3.16.15 9:46 am
Getting out of the shower after the gym, I picked up my phone and saw a familiar name. “James (International) Chardon”. Sitting down and reading, my heart begins to race. “What am I going to wear?” “Where could he possibly be taking me?” “Oh my god, I have to record tonight! What If Im late?!” … questions upon questions began to pill up in my brain. Calm down Jamie, one thing at a time. Throughout the day, I would casually try to get it out of him, where he’s taking me. Im the type of person who loves surprises, when I don’t know about it. But if I do, I will be freaking out and in ‘I need to know what it is’ mode. With no avail, I let the time pass by waiting for ’18 hr’, 6pm in normal people terms, to come. Going to the studio that day helped calm my nerves. We finished two songs. My vocal chords shot, I was let out early. Good, I’ll have time to get ready. Speeding home, my curiosity got the best of me and I asked again where he might be taking me. Getting on the phone with my best friend to solve the mystery.
As 6 pm rolls around, I got a text to come outside. In front of my apartment was a black SUV and him. It took around 30 mins to get to where we were going. Watching the sunset from my car window, I felt a sense ease with him that I haven’t felt before. When we arrived, I realized it was an airport. My mind started racing again. Where in the world could we be going? Why are we at an airport. Oh my god, what if this is the part where I find out he’s a spy and Im the girl he bought as insurance like those James Bond movies. My imagination ran wild. I felt a little squeeze of reassurance, as James grabbed my hand. In March, it was still cold outside in L.A., especially at night. His warm hands, melted mine. My mind wondered off again to the first time he surprised me.. making me believe he had to stay in Paris for work longer than expected. Contacting my friends and arranging for me to be at one of my favorite sushi spots on Sunset, so he could surprise me. My thoughts trailed back to our conversation on how my dad took my little brother on a helicopter ride, twice now, and still hadn’t taken me. It dawned on my what we were here to do and my excitement spiked.
We walked over to the airplane hanger. There were so many of them, big and small. The airport seemed to be quite though. I idly wondered if James rented out the entire thing because the only two people I saw were our pilot and his co. We went over some safety precautions, and walked over to the helicopter. My body buzzing with excitement, I could hardly contain myself. As we got into the cockpit, putting on our cans (Headphones and talk back) I looked over at him. With a huge smile, he beamed back, grabbing my hand as we took off.
As we flew over L.A., all the sounds seem to drift away. The city lights shined up at up. It seemed so magical, the city we both lived in. I couldn’t help myself but to be playing “Love my like you do” - Ellie Goulding in my head.. then to my surprise, James gets out his phone and plays it while we are flying above the city of Angels. Seeing it from way up here, it made me think back on the first conversation I ever had with one of my friends. She said “In this city, anything is possible…” and I thought, maybe she could have also meant, love too.
