music boxes

After a Job Lot Adventure, Jeffrey and I brought some Honey Dew over to Gram's. As we were sitting there, she said she was surprised we hadn't asked about the black box sitting next to her. "What black box? The vintage Barbie case?" I wasn't in view of the black box, apparently.

"You mean the tape recorder?" Jeff asked.

"Yes, that. I thought you two would ask me what it was," said Gram.

Let's put things in perspective here: I was born in 1985, and I believe my earliest memory is from 1987, when I was stung near my eye by a bee and blinded for a few minutes. So, with my 19-year memory, I recall the 1990's clearly. I remember that irritating song by Ace of Base, Windows 3.1, Seinfeld, Bill Clinton being elected twice, and the shift from cassette tapes to compact discs. I remember being given an MP3 player by my uncle in 2001, and being asked by just about everyone I knew what it was. The things have been popular for only a short amount of time. And yet, a good deal of people over 40 seem to think that no one of my generation, the high school and college-aged, came into consciousness more than five years ago and can remember any technology older than the cutting edge.

All we do is e-mail, instant message, listen to mp3s, and talk on our cellphones. We've heard rumors that once, such things required wires running along poles to function, but that's just one of those myths like the flat earth.