I am struck again today by things that aren't there anymore.
I am doing that a lot lately.
I guess it is another sign of aging.
I was struck by 'Today's Upper,' the little nugget I post online each day. It was on this day in 1878 that Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.
Which got me to thinking about one more thing my kids never encountered.
That would be the stereo.
No, not your phone.
I'm talking about receiver, turntable and giant speakers. And, of course, several hundred albums.
I'm told plastic is making a big comeback. I can tell you mine remains tucked away in the basement somewhere, longing for those glory days at a party when someone would announce, or rather more likely bellow, "I got the song," and then proceed drag the needle across your brand new LP.
Today I'm for the most part a Sirius, Spotify and Pandora listener.
I am amazed that I can carry my little Bose speaker with me out on the deck or into the yard and have music anywhere I want it.
And finally there is this. Kids today who are heading off to college have no conception of what it would at one time require to get your music to go with you. Lugging all that stuff up to the 13th floor of your dorm was quite the chore. Of course, it was all worth it on the first nice day of spring when you would put those speakers in the window and crank up the volume.
Today they pack their phone and they're done.
My stereo, Marantz receiver, Technics turntable, Altec-Lansing speakers, made several cross-country trips with me, including one tucked under a plastic tarp in the back of a Toyota pickup truck as we headed east through a blinding rain storm.
I still have the receiver, too.
One of these days I will break it out.
Then again, maybe not.
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