We were in the city, so I thought we’d make a stop; I was following along on the map on my phone, and realizing our route to downtown would take us right by. Dalton needed to see this place, so at the last second, I’ll told him to turn off and head over to the side street where soon we parked right in front of the sacred place.

As we passed through the door, I felt a little unsettled, which was unexpected; I had been here many times before dating back to my mid-teens, but not for a long time. I’d spent many happy hours here, as I had in similar places in many midwestern cities, having even worked in one, curating and caring for these companions. Unsettled turned to blank as I walked the aisle, aimless as I tried to find a place to land. I turned mindlessly and spotted Dalton, noting I’d wandered away from him lost in the reverie of old thoughts and feelings; so much pain, hurt, and sadness that caused the tragic break, it was traumatic and I’d never looked back.

Soon I selected one in its 12 by 12 home, smooth, black, cool. Holding it in my hand, just the way I used to in a careful slide out, a rush of memories and rituals, the studying, careful handling, cleaning, only using high quality equipment to create and foster a relationship, which I now found that I still had. Tears turned to smiles as I engaged with Dalton about everything I was now thinking, stream-of-consciousness, finding the places and thoughts I had divorced myself from at the cold and muddy river all those years ago where I watched them all drown, thousands gone. This old room full of their friends who were happy to take me back, maybe wondering where I’d been all this time, Dalton meeting them for the first time.

We browsed some more, chatting up some of the clerks, and he finally settled on The Black Keys at The BBC, Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, Fleetwood Mac- Rumours, and a nice classic style Technics turntable. I wasn’t quite ready to have a listen with him upon our return to home the next day, but he texted me later to tell me that he was listening to the music in a different way through playing them as records; I immediately know what he meant, thinking about the days back when I was doing the same with all of the little steps that go with it, changing the way I thought about everything. 
Hello, Old Friends.