Falling into the past, for a moment...

The crisp chill on warm skin always brings me to that special place we used to know. With the gentle easing of a fall breeze I am moved into memories with autumn colored leaves. I can almost smell the way you smelt then, I can remember the softness of your bare skin against my bare skin, two bodies and souls intertwined under the blankets warmth. Nothing could harm us there, we were surrounded in ourselves and in our love. The simple act of a loving look, the pleasure of a delicate caress, the silent cup of coffee shared while being lost in the season. You are fall drive, windows down, music blasting, smoke barreling, life being grasped. I keep you in that breeze, in that season, so that when those winds start blowing I am transported to a beautiful time that was spent. I smile at the grand love that was shared, so I can stop in and visit you sometimes. It reminds me of the power of love and the importance of change, like the dying away of leaves to save the tree that is rooted, and the need to let it all flow and to not try and tighten my hold.

Flash Back Friday - Walkman's with Tape Decks

In this day and age where everything is moving so fast, where information is passed in nanoseconds, and things keep getting more streamlined and tiny, it's easy to forget what was innovative just years prior. I was marveling at my i-Pod's many functions and I had a fond memory of my Sony Walkman (and I'm talking about the tape deck one, not the CD player!). If you were alive during the 90's in America, you had one of these at one time or another. It was the most cutting edge technology of the time! You could take your tapes ON THE GO!! I specifically remember asking for this for Christmas and the delight on my face when I opened the wrapping on this gift and saw the shiny plastic packaging. I couldn't wait to get the scissors out and tear into it!! The greatest thing about getting this as a gift at that time was that it usually came with a pack of batteries! SCORE! You were mobile. When you're a kid you don't have a lot of money, and two things that became hard to come by were new tapes and batteries. It was a delicate balance between either 1.) Buying blank tapes to bootleg your friends music. 2.) Buying a new tape you really really want. or 3.) Buying batteries to keep mobile. Road trips were the biggest test of reserves. You could usually scrape together that money for the 4 pack of batteries. A typical trip to say, Anaheim from Las Vegas can run approximately 4 hours. The typical life of batteries running a tape player was right around 3 1/2 hours and then you had to switch to the radio, which got weaker and weaker until it faded into completely dead batteries. During the 3 1/2 hours of travel you no doubt have listened to the few precious tapes you own and are ready to mix it up a little. Luckily I have a cool brother who introduced me to some of the best hip hop ever during various road trips so we could share our tapes with each other. At this point though you are in California for what may be 2, 3, maybe 5 days. You will need to listen to some music while your there and you have the drive home still. The best conservation measure was straight radio only in the city. It just used less batteries plain and simple, you later while driving home through the desert you wouldn't be getting a signal unless you wanted to listen to county music or Christian radio. It was a great time!! Now a days you can RECHARGE YOUR MUSIC DEVICE?!?!?! 20 hours of music, with a car charger give you an unlimited amount of road music! If you want to listen to a song twice you need only press one button and in seconds it there. Want to re-listen to a specific part, look at the time on the screen and just skip to it, DONE. Not in the age of the tape. It took almost as long as the song to rewind it, if you didn't pass it a little and go to the other song. You just hoped that the song you wanted to listen to was the first song on that side of the tape so it would just stop at the beginning. But you better hope that the tape never snapped either! There is no fix to that blunder! It would just be done son, leaving you to either hope a friend has that tape or that you could buy another copy.

It's just interesting to look back and see what innovative and new vs. what is now. It makes you wonder what they will come up with next and if it will really enrich our lives or if it will kill us in the name of progress. I for one couldn't be happier with the invention of the the iPod!