When I moved back to Baltimore I left without one of my dearest possessions, my stereo. And leaving my stereo was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done. It caused me emotional torment like I’ve never felt before. I’ve honestly endured breakups that weren’t as painful as having to leave my stereo in Tucson.
I love my stereo. I got it way back at the turn of the century. It was one of my first major purchases post-college. It was beautiful because it was a five minidisc and five cd changer and I utilized both aspects equally. To say that I listened to hours of music on that stereo would be an understatement. Most nights I’d have five discs in rotation, on repeat; I listened to thousands of hours of music on that stereo.
That stereo provided the soundtrack to hundreds of shaves and thousands of showers. It provided music for marathon writing sessions and various encounters with members of the opposite sex. It’s what I fell asleep to every night and woke up every day.
(That’s probably why I needed to get the motor replaced when I first moved to Vegas.)
But it did more than just play cds and minidiscs. When WHFS aired an acoustic Radiohead concert, I was able to set it up to record the whole thing on minidisc. I also hooked it up to my tv so that I got a level up on stereo sound.
My stereo is the closest thing I had to a child and I easily cared more about it than I did any pet I’ve ever had. It was part of my routine. It was part of my life. It was a huge part of my life.
But when I got to Tucson and realized all of the other things I’d be leaving behind and (hopefully) get shipped out my way in the future, I realized that I’d be completely crushed if anything happened to my stereo in route. It was irreplaceable and I’d rather have it safe and sound than potentially damaged beyond repair.
So I decided to leave it in Tucson, with my mom. It set it up in her living room and programmed her favorite radio stations into it. I figured if I couldn’t have it, it deserved to be in a loving environment where it’d still get the proper attention.
I’ve got a new stereo now. Actually it’s a five dvd changer/surround sound hook up. It plays cds, even burned ones. So it does what I need it to. But the remote isn’t as responsive and every time I turn it on I’ve got to set up the five disc rotation/repeat function, and I’ve got to turn on my tv to see what I’m doing.
And maybe I’m just being critical because I miss something that I truly loved, but it’ll never replace the stereo that I gave up. At least not in my heart.
