My name is Sam. Born in the American Midwest, I now live in Copenhagen with my wife and our bunny, Atticus. This project came about for two reasons: 1) because I turned 30 and thought, “Huh, I should probably do something biggish when I get to that point”, and 2) because I’ve always enjoyed writing and seeing what comes out of it.
The Flyover Letters started as a possible writing project back in June 2025. The letter aspect of this project was inspired by an activity I did in school, where students would write letters to their future self and open it some time later as a means to reflect back on who they were and what they had become. Thinking about this exercise and then writing these letters now, they started as little bits of self reflection that were initially just for me, but then wanted to turn it outward. I didn’t want to just be writing to myself. That’s when I decided to leave the addressee in these letters blank. The idea is that these can be for anyone and they can find you at any time in your life. Perhaps they’ll be what you need in that moment, wherever you happen to be. Maybe they’ll simply be what they are — little letters wishing you well. Whatever it ends up being, I hope those who read them enjoy and get something out of it, even if it’s just a smile or warm feeling.
The “flyover” bit of the project title was inspired by something a bit darker that I wanted to brighten up a bit. During times of war and conflict, there have been instances where planes dropped cluster bombs containing flyers/leaflets that were scattered throughout the air to fall on communities below. Usually these leaflets were warnings to evacuate the area due to an incoming bombing run, or they were used to spread propaganda as a means to provoke fear and despair. I wanted to take that idea and turn it into something less scary, something that inspired hope. Imagining the letters falling from the plane, not as bombs but as drifting sheets of paper almost like large flakes of snow, is what inspired the main image for this blog (originally, I had used AI to help generate what I had in mind, but then asked a friend to make a human-created rendition so I wasn’t reliant on AI for this).
I’m not sure how long this project will keep going. As mentioned, this started back in June 2025, so I have several entries already written that I intend to publish here and I will keep writing these letters in my spare time. Whether this lasts for about a year or goes on for another 10… we’ll see. Regardless, here it is now. If you end up reading my letters, I hope you enjoy and they lighten your day, wherever you happen to be.
The Flyover Letters 