girl, put your records on

as i type i'm sitting in a bookstore.  being surrounded by books simply makes me happy. i have plenty at home to read already, so it's not as much about acquisition as much as osmosis.

i did, however, purchase a record player!!  as a child of the 70's who regrets giving away her turntable and boxes of vinyl in college (the digital age was going to be The Thing) it was something i thought about for several months. did i want to bring more stuff into my small living space?

yes!! 

never mind that the records cost more than the player itself. i couldn't help but tabulate the cost of 8 would have bought a couple of hundred at ten cents a piece.

but the joy! lover of many genres from jazz to musicals, i made the 8 count: pink, ed sheeran, soundtrack to Camelot, barbra streisand, jon batiste, ella fitzgerald and louis armstrong, van morrison, and a new artist from new zealand i hadn't heard of but liked the album cover.

it took me back over 40 years when i would stack the records of my parents' player to sing along and dance to everything from sound of music and born free to the lennon sisters and bing crosby.

my undeniably favorite part is before the music even starts, that scratchy reverb the needle makes when it touches down. 

that, and unlike music on my phone or laptop, the tangible joy of getting up and turning the record over.

and did i mention dancing? i may no longer be in college, but now there's no quiet hours.

yes, i won't be so hasty to part with this budding collection...