Goin' Retro

Last weekend my wife Marilyn and my son Will headed north (an hour north!) to spend a few days with my Mom. If you read Marilyn's Facebook you know that upon arrival Will began to explore a closet he usually avoids.  In it is a lot of stuff that used to belong to my Dad, who passed away 6 years ago. While exploring, he found a old turntable and some records.  For those  of you who may not remember, a turntable was a method of playing music by placing a arm with a needle on a large piece of vinyl with a hole in the middle.  This technology predates 8 track tapes, cassette tapes, compact discs and the I-Pod.  Anyway, Will found the turntable, a couple of ancient speakers, and hooked it up. Moments later he was listening to some of Dad's albums.  He listened to such contemporary greats as Andy Williams, Jim Croce and The Kingston Trio.  And he was loving it.  

His next discovery prompted a phone call to me.  He found what appeared to be a 4-string guitar hiding in the back of that closet, and he called wanting to know what it was.  I knew immediately what he had found. It was indeed a 4-string guitar- the very guitar that I had first learned to play when I was a teenager.  This excited him to no end.  This magical closet had become a sort of retro Toys 'R' Us for my son, and his new play things quickly became an obsession.  He played the guitar (and another old ukulele he found) and listened to the albums.  He began to search for places that sold albums, hoping to acquire some new ones. Eventually we ordered Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town and My Chemical Romance's Danger Days from Amazon.  We are currently in search of a record store in Tampa.  The stereo and the guitar both came home with him and have moved into his room.  This is serious business...


The world changes at such an alarming rate these days.  There is something truly magical about nostalgia and things that connect us to the past.  I am glad Will discovered the turntable and the 4-string guitar.  They were such a huge part of my past.  They are now a huge part of his present.  And that is comforting to me.  Some days being a dad is just a really cool thing...


Because of Jesus,