Monday, March 18, 2013

North Meets South

Hubs and I met in college on a beautiful campus in East Tennessee.  The majority of the students there hailed from nearby Tennessee towns and cities, or from some other nearby southern state, yet somehow hubs ended up with a roommate from Long Island NY and a girlfriend from the southern part of New Jersey.

Sometimes life is funny.

Hubs excels at staying in touch with all the many friends he's made throughout his years and travels, but he hadn't seen his college roommate since before we moved to the UK.  I hadn't seen him in 20 years. Friday out of the blue, hubs gave him a call at his home in Long Island and said, 'Hey-why don't you come over tomorrow (Saturday)?'  

So he did.

He brought his lovely girlfriend whom we'd never met but instantly liked, and we sat at our kitchen table laughing at old pictures and catching up.  We threw salmon, shrimp, and veggie kabobs on the grill and lingered at the table for hours as only old friends can.


We dusted off the pool table and decided to go all the way retro- aka we played albums. Yes we have a turntable and a lot of albums.


True story...when we moved to the UK the albums were boxed up and sent to storage. Our girls never paid much attention to them before the move because they had a Walkman and boom boxes and were children of the 90's.

When we moved back to the states hubs decided to set up the turntable. He searched high and low for a replacement needle, and eventually had to order one online from someplace in California.  It may have cost as much as the turntable itself back in the day, but he got the needle. We unwrapped the boxes and stepped back in time, technologically speaking I mean.

Albums tell stories, and connect you to a place in time like few things can. While I love the instantaneous availability of any song-anywhere-anytime, its not the same. There's some love lost when you crack through the packaging on a CD or buy with one click of the keyboard.

On my girls first trip to see us in our new home daughter1 spied the box of albums and it was love at first sight. She asked the hubs, and I quote...'Can I have these when you're dead?'

Uh. I guess?

On Saturday night we learned that while we could still set a needle on a forty year old vinyl with the precision of a watchmaker, we could not for the life of us figure out how to make Wii bowling appear on the flat screen. Technology. Pssht. Where are our kids when we need them???

New batteries helped.
Sometimes we make technology more complicated than it needs to be, but the musical perfection of the original Journey on a slightly scratched record album in the background did make us feel less stupid.


Time presses forward, mysteriously gaining speed with every passing year, and we drag our heels in hopes of slowing it down.  Suddenly a long ago friend is sitting in your kitchen, and for a moment you succeed.

Enough to remember the 'kids' you once were...

 ...and a future that is now, barely brushing your fingertips atop a mountain in East Tennessee.  

26 comments:

  1. Sweet post. Nothing quite like being with old friends.

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  2. Lovely post, I was in Nashville TN 2 years ago and thought it wonderful.


    Sandy.

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  3. Glad you had a fun visit! Can't wait to play pool and Wii bowling and listen to albums when I'm home in 11 sleeps.

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  4. Joyce, I loved this post. Aren't old friendships some of the sweetest? The memories shared, the bonding through sometimes wild and uninhibited experiences, and the sharing of youthful dreams that may or may not have come true, are matchless. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. BTW, both guys are still very handsome.

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  5. You make it sound so romantic. I love your writing! Nothing like getting together with old friends to make time disappear!

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  6. Oh Journey. So many memories attached to those songs. Sounds like a great way to spend a weekend.

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  7. Old friends, albums, and East Tennessee...I can't think of a better combination!

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  8. lovely post. Where is he from in Long Island? We lived there for 6 years and Kevin is from Massapequa.

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  9. yep, magic begins in east TN ... it is where I grew up - and I married an Iowa boy somehow (the grace of God??). :)

    we have albums and a record player too. :)

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  10. When I went home last summer, I met with old classmates that I hadn't seen in almost 20 years. I was great.

    It sounds like you had a blast with your hub's olds roommate.

    Guess what? We also we have a turntable and actually use it sometimes.

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  11. Oh I can relate to every word of this...We too have a few boxes of old albums. Not sure why, just can't bear to part with them. Some real old treasures. And nothing like an old friend to bring you back in time. Glad he was able to just pop over. How nice for you all! Enjoy your week!

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  12. Hi Joyce. We had an absolutely fantastic time and I cannot believe I let so many years pass. Never again... Love u guys!

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  13. Hi Joyce... We had an absolutely fantastic time! I cannot believe I let so many years pass. Never again. Love u guys!

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  14. It sounds like a perfect evening. We have a large collection of albums also only our son has our turntable now. I had to laugh because I actually can work my Wii and I love to bowl on it! I miss some of those days from the past but it is so much fun to talk about them with best friends.

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  15. "Can I have these when you are dead?"
    hahaha!

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  16. wow, what a nice flashback. Is that Phil Collins? I loved him!

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  17. Phil Collins, Face Value- love it! I saved my turntable too but it isn't set up. Sounds like a wonderful day, and of course a friend from Long Island makes it sweeter :)

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  18. Oh, what fun! I hate to confess, but I got rid of all our old albums many years ago and several years later, Hubby asked me about them. Can I just say that he was NOT happy with me.

    There is just nothing like linking up with long ago friends. Sounded like such a fun time!

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  19. The pics of them together look like they are daily buddies.....that is the magic of a true friendship. I have many old albums but no turntable right now. I need to remedy that.

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  20. This was just such a delightful post! I almost felt like I was there with you guys. What fun to play those old albums again. Aren't you so glad he made that phone call. :-)

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  21. What a nice trip down memory lane!
    My Dad just gave our son and his girlfriend his turntable yesterday and they went downstairs and sorted through our albums. It was so strange to see all of those once familiar sleeves again!!

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  22. This is fantastic! I'm so glad that you kept all of your albums and turntable! One thing that I dearly regret getting rid of during one of our early military moves is our turntable. Sigh...

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  23. It's so nice that your hubby reconnected with his friend. I also like that you were able to fix your turntable. Looking forward to getting to know you.

    Julie

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  24. We still have all our albums. And we have a turn table, but it's not currently set up.
    So cool you could connect with an old friend.

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  25. Steve mentioned the other night you had posted our visit on your blog. Work has been so crazy (it has even been hard work squeezing words with friends in between classes). Tonight I finally had a chance to relax and read your blog. I love it and am an instant follower. Vinyl records, Wii bowling and instant friendship -- I am finding that spontaneity holds the key to many of life's best memories. Hope to see both of you again soon.

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