A "New" Old World (The Beginnings of a Collection)...

The STRANGER THINGS Soundtrack is AMAZING! Lots of songs that transport me back to my teenage days.

Oh, how I had missed the days of placing a vinyl record on my turn table and watching it spin round and round as Cyndi Lauper, Michael Jackson, or Elvis carted me away to another world. 

I had quite the collection, too: Simon and Garfunkel, Dolly Parton, Madonna, Disney, The Bee Gees, etc... Yes, my tastes were all over the place, but that was the kind of person I was.

The kind of person I still am.

A lot of my collection came from relatives that had passed on. Records I enjoyed because they had once enjoyed them. Good memories.

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But, with tape cassettes and then CD's making their debut, my records became too cumbersome and old-fashioned. I couldn't haul them to college either, and after awhile of them simply sitting in a storage box, I donated them to a thrift store. Now, I shake my head in shame, looking back on my stupid teenage self for making that decision. I had the entire Elvis Presley's Greatest Hits Collection (six albums). Now, gone. That is only one example of the kind of treasures I gave away.

Foolish.

So, when I saw the above little pink portable record player at my local Marshalls store, I knew I had to make it mine.

Merry Christmas to me!

But, what's a record player without records? Exactly.

And so began my journey to start a new collection.

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It's strange that this simple pink Victrola player could bring me so much happiness. There's just something nostalgic and joyful about a spinning and a tiny needle finding the right grooves, that turns my lips upward.

I'm jumping into a "new" old world, going to record stores and thumbing through racks and racks of albums like I once used to, years and years ago.

It's all new to me, but in a very familiar way.