Upsides to the Down Economy/ Maybe Money Can Buy You Happiness

"Check out what Pure Joy looks like!" Jerry Maguire

For me, pure joy looks like the record player I got for my birthday. Not my original gift, the turntable with no speakers my husband bought (that would have come in handy if I decided to moonlight as a D.J.) but the one I bought, after I took his back. It even kind of looks like my old one, which I must have gotten when I was about 13. The first record I played on that one was Elvis's Flaming Star, so I pulled it out and played it to christen my new record player. There is something about playing a record that is a different experience than popping in a CD. Number one, you're more engaged in the process, taking the record out of the jacket, placing it on the turntable, moving the needle in place on the record. I had to explain to my stepdaughters how the big grooves indicated the beginning of songs and you could move the needle to a new song, as opposed to hitting "track". When one side has finished playing, you have to physically turn over the grooved, black disc to hear the other side; while it's playing, you have this massive (compared to Cd's)album cover to study. The photo, the sleeve jacket (which might have lyrics printed on it, or more photos) and the back, showing the songs on the album and other albums available by the artist. It's just more of an Experience in general and I couldn't wait to take that trip down memory lane. So, I went through my Elvis albums, and then came Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, which I discovered the summer Elvis died. For some reason, a couple weeks ago, I remembered a Dan Fogelberg album (Captured Angel) I had listened to in high school. I pulled it out, put it on the record player. and with the opening chords of the first song (Aspen) I was transported right back into my Junior Year at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. It felt fresh and innocent and quite lovely, in a melancholy kind of way. I've gotten Elvis and Bruce Cd's over the years to duplicate my old albums, but I hadn't listened to this album since high school, so it was an undiluted, pure experience of time and place. They say scents transport you back in time more than anything else, but even if sprayed Emeraude around my room, it couldn't have taken me back any quicker to being sixteen, than listening to this album again. I got the CD for a road trip to South Carolina, so now my high school memories have gotten mixed up with my middle aged memories. Will I listen to Dan Fogelberg when I'm 80 and remember this time in my life when my two worlds collided? Who knows. All I know, is that this particular purchase has brought me pure joy. Maybe money can buy you happiness. That reminds me, I haven't listened to Hard Day's Night in a while. Help!

"These days are just like you and me." Dan Fogelberg