A Visit to the USO Dredges Up Some Serious Nostalgic Digression.

Every Life Moment Counts... And Then Some!

Today I visited the local United Service Organization (USO) here on Guam. Some days I might head over there for a light breakfast and coffee, and maybe sneak in a doughnut if my conscience allows. The food served there is all contributed through donations and is prepared daily by volunteers for military service members and their families. Today, we ran across an active duty acquaintance (and family) of ours who is preparing to transfer back to the mainland after a tour of duty here. They have packed and shipped all their household goods, and have moved out of base housing. Because their last week on the island will be spent in a hotel, the USO helps to make their short homeless stay a little more accommodating. As a retiree, I am also eligible.

Guam USO - A home away from home for military members

My wife and I actively support the USO with donations as it continues to serve a great cause to the military community. And time permitting, I might just park myself in one of their comfy massage chairs for a short gig, as I did this day.

While lying there in the overstuffed massage chair, being squeezed and kneaded all over, I was tuned into the large projection screen strategically positioned directly in front of the three massage chairs. Normally the "SPA" channel will be playing (local cable TV provided) but today it was tuned into the channel "Jukebox Oldies." What I experienced was pure nostalgic digression.

Nostalgia Arrives.

I was taken back to the day when my parents owned a truck-stop and restaurant on Highway 41 in northern Indiana. I can remember the jukebox vividly as my dad would take money out, and put it right back in to keep the music playing (when patronage was low). It was about 1960 and I don't have to tell you what type of music it was loaded with. Truck drivers back then were almost unanimously country music-struck with the likes of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Ray Price, Connie Francis and of course, Patsy Cline.

During my dad's later years he began to downsize his personal possessions, selling anything he felt he no longer needed. I was there that day when he decided it was time to unload his (antique) RCA stereophonic record player and his collection of 45rpm record singles... about 250 of them. I made it easy on him and offered him his full asking price of $100. It was all he wanted and I couldn't pass up that bargain. At least I could keep it in the family a little while longer.

Later when I retired from the workforce and made the decision to move to the Philippines (2013), one major task at hand was to liquidate everything that we no longer needed or could not move to the Philippines with us. Unfortunately, my dad's record player and all those 45's would have to go. I also had a collection of over 200 vinyl LP's (mostly all of the classic rock genre), some which were worth a pretty penny! The time had come to depart with something I held onto and cherished, as it was part of my childhood past. When downsizing or preparing to move, there is always something that must be sacrificed, and today was one of them bittersweet decisions.

I advertised the player and records for sale online. Generally speaking, most calls I received about the things I advertised on Craigslist were serious and resulted in a rather quick disposition of whatever it was I was selling. With this particular item though, I received about 15 inquiries, 14 of which all seemed to be serious but turned out to be nothing but wasted time. Typically when a caller says they want it, they will call back to make arrangements to come pick it up, it happens just that way. Only with this item, none of the callers that said they would come, ever showed up. NOBODY! At one point I adopted the attitude that I didn't care if I sold it or not. If it must come with me, so be it!

Mixed Emotions!

But this day was different. The buyer that called about the ad I placed seemed overly excited and filled with emotion. Not only did this guy call me once, he called me three more times in subsequent days, and again that same morning he was to come pick up the items.

Before he arrived, I took the record player cabinet out to the garage, wiped it down one last time and then, the 'meanderthal' (meandering as described in a previous blog post) in me kicked in. I plugged it in and began playing a stack of the old 45's. I had some time to listen to Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, and Loretta Lynn. Wow! How nostalgic!

I was listening to one of my favorites as a kid growing up - Jimmy Dean's "Please Pass the biscuits" when the buyer drove up. Why that song struck me as being funny when I was 12 years old I'll never know...maybe it was that song's story-line done in Southern speak.

But here he was... [remember the buyer?] now standing alongside me in the garage, listening to Jimmy Dean with me. As the song played on, some serious thoughts of reneging on this deal crept up and lodged in my mind. I thought about how cool it would be to sit on my front porch with my record player, spinning some 45's while drinking San Miguel beer, in the Philippines!

The thought passed just as the record ended and as I turned and looked at him he spouted "It sounds good!" At that very moment I thought that if anybody else could stand there and appreciate Jimmy Dean singing "Please Pass the biscuits" like I did, then he was deserving enough to have my dad's records. I unplugged the player, he handed me the cash, we loaded it up, and just like that, all those old memories headed off west to Oxford, Mississippi.

Decisions are difficult some days.

@originalworks