The Stereo Stack

When I was a freshman in high school one of my friends down the street got a stereo.  It wasn't just any old stereo, it was a whole stereo stack.  There were so many components that it needed it's own stereo rack just to hold all the pieces.   It was cool.  I wanted one.

That was the thing back then.  You got a stereo system that included things like a record player, tape deck (or double tape deck if you were cool), radio receiver, amplifier and, of course, the most exciting component, the equalizer.

All of these pieces would stack on top of each other and you would put them inside a nice vertical rack with the record player being on the top so that you could place and remove records.  There would be extra space at the bottom for your records and tapes and the whole thing would be proudly displayed with a nice glass door that popped open and closed via a magnetic closure button.  It was the thing to have.  It was posh.  I couldn't live without one.  Pleeeeeeeeeeese mom and dad?

I got a stereo stack the following Christmas and I loved it.  I loved it through college.  I loved lugging those large, heavy speakers that were just as big and tall as the stereo rack itself, up and down the stairs of my college dorm room as I moved in and then later, out of my dorm room.  

That stereo served me well.  Today, I have amazing sound, a full library of music and all the audio features I could possibly want...in my pocket...as part of my cell phone. 

The Big Boy Update:  "Hi, Mimi's Truck."  Mimi has lots of things as far as my son is concerned.  This morning, unbeknownst to Mimi, she had a Time Warner service truck that arrived at our house.  My son was ready to see Mimi emerge from this imposing truck and come to visit him.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Pretty in pink.  My daughter's cousin, Olivia, graciously shared some of her baby clothes this past weekend.  There are some very fetching dresses.  This morning, we put on a pink dress, complete with little britches and sent her off to school.  Without a doubt, my daughter will be the cutest child at school.  You're with me on this, right?

Someone Once Said:   On reflection I realized that I was in exactly the same predicament as every other human being alive: We don’t know who we are, or where we came from, or why we are here. One thing I’ve learned is to face calmly the ancient mystery of life, untroubled by my inability to solve it.