Flashback Friday # 124

Goodbye Stereo

A warm welcome to all who have stumbled upon my ramblings.

Did you ever have something that you assumed would be yours, only to have it taken away? In this post we will examine the heartbreak of a teenager without a stereo. That's like a teen today without a cell phone.

When Sir Gattabout enrolled in the US Army, He left many of his possessions behind. Through basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. and Jump School at Fort Benning,GA., I took possession of his belongings that he didn't take with him. I figured "If he wanted them, he would have taken them with him." Sounded logical to me. Then we got "the letter".

He wrote us saying that he was heading to his permanent base at Fort Bragg, NC. He wanted us to come and visit him there, and bring some of his stuff. His stuff??? Possession is 9/10th of the law. That was my stuff now. Or so I thought.

He wanted some of his civilian clothes (which I didn't care about, since it didn't fit me) and his stereo and records. Noooo!!!! If we took his stereo to him, I would have to use the behemoth console record player downstairs. No more isolating myself in my room to listen to tunes.If he took his records, it would leave me with only a handful that I could legitimately call my own.

I tried to reason with Mom, but she wasn't buying it. So I had to pack up Gattabout's record albums so we could take them down to him. Goodbye Deep Purple. Goodbye Pink Floyd. Goodbye Steve Miller. Goodbye Three Dog Night. I even packed up the 45's that were his.

The stereo was a classic from the 70's. It had an avocado green plastic base that folded up to look similar to a suitcase. It had a record player and an 8-track deck. (yes I packed up all his 8-tracks too).

We loaded up the car and made the long trek from central Ohio to Fayettville, NC. According to Yahoo Maps, it is a trip of over 550 miles taking 9 1/2 hours. When we got there, we were glad to see him & he was glad to see us. I helped take his stuff into his barracks.

A few weeks after we got home, he gave us a call, just to talk. When it was my turn to talk to him, I asked if he was enjoying listening to his records again. He said he loved playing the albums, but didn't care for the 45's. In fact he gave them away! I knew I shouldn't have packed them. Oh well.