Memories are back to me these days that I had pretty much forgotten... i.e. the first book my father's friend, Delfin, presented me with; my first trips to McDonald's with my aunt Eunice; my grandma Vitalia's rice-thickened chicken soup; the first record I ever bought on my own.  [I know. My family is made of odd names]

I've began actively gathering items that represent my past, such as the ceramic piggy bank that belonged to my other grandma, 'Mama Luz', which I got dibs on many years ago while she was alive.  I brought it back with me last April on my latest trip to Costa Rica.

Then about six months ago I started looking for a record player.  I shopped for one at every antique store I saw, and found some, a few too expensive, others cheap but needing work, or the needle, or speakers...  Point being, none was the right unit for me to buy. 

One of my early teenage memories is of my father playing his records.  He had a huge, table top player, [he may still have it] that had a transparent plastic lid through which I'd see the records go round and round as they played.  I remember listening to Caruso read Amado Nervo's poetry.  His tenor voice read 'Gratia Plena' in such an impressive way that I still remember parts of it today:  "Más que muchas princesas, princesa parecía: era llena de gracia, como el Avemaría; ¡quien la vio no la pudo ya jamás olvidar!" 

I remember listening to my father's other favorites, El Danubio Azul, and Nelson Ned, and also to my first LP purchase ever, from when I was about 14 years old: the movie soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever. 

When I left home and came to the States I 'forgot' about all that, but like I said, it seems to be all coming back.

Two weeks ago, my fantastic guy David got me a record player for Christmas.  It is beautiful, a warm flash to the past for me, yet quite fancy with its am/pm radio, tape, and CD player added to the set.

Since I received it I'd been playing my one and only record, Bongos performances by Los Admiradores.  That was, until today, when we went to Antique Row in Old Historical Pomona and for twenty dollars came back home with a loot of about fifteen records! 

For the sake of variety we picked up Tango, Middle Eastern music, Western, Glenn Miller, Big Band, Los Chakachas, and for sentimentality, a copy of the very same Saturday Night Fever record I first bought about twenty years ago. 

I also bought what today is, to me, a gem.  A Tico-All-Stars record from 1966 featuring Joe Cuba, Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Bobby Rodriguez, Jimmy Sabater, Ray Barretto, Cachao, Johnny Pacheco, Charlie Palmieri, Chino Pozo, Santos Colon, Cheo Feliciano, and more! - Descargas at the Village Gate - Live.

Needless to say, my record player was busy this evening, and so were my memories. 

And my imagination as well... I'm dreaming twenty years from now, my kids, Caleb and Chelsea, will perhaps see a record player and remember their mother, remembering her father.  And if we are lucky, this may just happen while we're all still alive. 

Whether it means that I'm getting old, or simply that I'm a sentimental fool... it feels good to remember.  It adds perspective to who I am... this remembering who I've been.

                                                           --- dena b.

Afterthought:  in case anyone wants to do antique shopping:  Antique Row is on Second Street, off Garey Ave, off the 10 freeway, in Pomona.