I’m not sure why this popped into my mind this morning, but I wondered to myself, “What do I still have from before I got married?” My wife and I are coming up on our 36th anniversary this May. Do I own anything that is older than that? Not much.
First thing on the list: my trumpet. A silver plated model 43 Bach Stradivarius Bb. I bought it in 1979 when I had just graduated from college and was working my first job at Bell Labs in West Long Branch, NJ. It was my second Strad. My first was a brass plated horn that my dad bought for me when I was in ninth grade, I think. But someone broke into my car in the Bell Labs parking lot and stole it my first summer in NJ. I still remember going to Red Bank music where they had a whole bunch or horns in stock and playing them till I found the one I decided to buy for $600. (I think they list for about $3,000 today!) It has served me well for forty-one years.
Next: some tools. I’ve got some metric wrenches I purchased when I owned a 1980 Volkswagon Rabbit that had a diesel engine. There wasn’t much to that engine, but it got over 50 miles to the gallon when I was at the seminary. In fact, I could drive from the seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN to my parents home in Philadelphia on one tank of fuel. I think I bought these to switch out the glow plugs one winter. I’m not sure what else I used them for back then, but I still use them now.
I’ve also got a few pots and mixing bowls my mom bought for me when I moved into my first apartment. She got me a small set of Revereware. We still have and use one small sauce pan and a couple of the steel mixing bowls. These items would actually predate the trumpet by about six months.
I’ve probably got a few photo prints from before I got married, but I’m not sure where they are in the house. Perhaps a theological few books from my first two years at the seminary, too. But that’s about it.
Waite for it... 