I continue to sort, organize, and dispose of things. I came across my old Sony Walkman and I felt a well of emotions about it, but no interest in using it ever again. It had been in a box for over 25 years and I have finally come to feel at ease donating it to a second hand store.  But I decided to record something about it here.

It was likely a gift from my parents.  I used it in high school, listening to music as I fell asleep and
waking to music with the alarm function.  I could program so many radio stations and it got really good reception, so I had several to choose from! It would play cassettes on a constant loop, switching from A side to B side and back again, so only battery life limited the constant music.

Looking at the stop/play/FF/RW buttons still elicits a tactile response in my finger tips.

College found me using it again at night, but often I’d listen to a radio station that had just the right white noise.  Mixed tapes were my studying companions at the library as delivered by this handy friend.

Super cheesy now, but I had a waist pack just for this with a pocket for extra batteries and space for two other tapes.

Strange how important this was to me and the nostalgia and friendly gratitude I feel for my old Walkman.  It still worked when I put it in the box for donations. Now that I write this, I regret getting rid of it, but I know that tomorrow (and the next decade) I won’t think about it again.