The value of staying connected to your past

Back in the day, I was a singer-songwriter. I like to think that the songwriting part find its way into my columns from time to time. The other day, a friend asked me to listen to some of her recordings as she was entering them in a local radio contest. It made me wonder: What happened to my own masters?

At the time, digital audio tape was the latest technology, and I remember having only one copy of my recordings. Now I can’t find any of the cassettes.

I spent a lot of years humming and strumming, and wrote a few dozen songs, most of which I remember only in fragments. But I stopped playing when I entered graduate school and left that life behind. Music took a backseat to papers and dissertations.

Not a bad transition of talent, I suppose. And it makes sense that as I became busy creating other things, making music became less important. Since then, the occasional serenade was about all I’ve been good for.

Recently, I took in my guitar to get some repair work, thinking I’d sell it and replace it with a less flashy model. I looked at a couple dozen guitars in the shop, but when mine came back, it played like no other. It’s not going anywhere.

I’ve been playing again, almost daily, not because I have plans to write songs or return to the stage, but because I’ve been reminded how much I enjoy it. And my neurologist friends tell me that playing an instrument is good for the brain, which is another pretty good reason to pick up the guitar.

So maybe this is less about going back and more about bringing something forward. My old vinyl records are stored somewhere, too. Eventually I’ll find them. Then I’ll have to find something to play them on. I think it’s called … a record player.

Things change. Everything gets updated, and of course, it makes sense to get rid of old things that are just collecting dust. But my advice is to not be too hasty. There’s no harm in holding on to old photos and other mementos from your bygone days. You never know when you may want to revisit those times and reminisce about the people, places and simple pleasures that once brought you joy.