Didn’t It Blow Your Mind

The house has been silent for months.

There would always be something playing from any and every genre.

I needed to go back to the past to get out of the present. To dance like no one was watching. To get that vibe that gave me the chills and sent me flying.

So, I was Grazing in the Grass with The Friends of Distinction, and for a moment I was young again. The flashback is thus: I am living on Laconia Avenue in the Bronx. It is a semi-attached house and my neighbors, Anna and Richie are separated from Steve and I by a short all on a common porch;  I can go over the wall and visit without dealing with the front stairs. I am in my early 20s, working at The School for the Deaf in Manhattan. My first real job. My then husband, Steve, is not there. I go over the wall to Anna and Richies’s. They have an above-ground pool in there little NYC back yard. It was heaven: I can float and stare up at the sky on a summer’s day in 1970. Grazing in the Grass is playing on the radio on a picnic table and something in me lights up with the beat. Everything is perfection. It was just that simple.

Listen here:

Robert designed and built this wall unit while in architecture school in the 60s. It was so large we had to ditch part of it. Later we added to it. He divided the cubbies meant for vinyl to accommodate CDs.

The unit was constantly morphing, as is my life.

This is about 1/2 of the collection. The rest inhabits the basement: Piles of vinyl: 33s, 78s, 45s. Scratchy original Edisons in canisters from the beginning of time.

These memories have me in tears.

Life has got me got me Going in Circles: Give me One Small Thing to Cling To

📌The series starts here:
Part 1: And The Band Played On … a mother’s life, a daughter’s journey

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