How to Lug Around 500 Record Albums

My whole family really appreciates and loves music. When I was young, my mom always had the radio on, or she’d be playing a record while she was sewing. Music was always in the background in my formative years.

My mom’s brother, my Uncle Tommy, made a mixtape for me when I was around 10 years old. I don’t have that tape anymore, because for some crazy reason, I threw it away when I got divorced years ago. Why? Who does that??? (I guess I was moving on to the newest technology that was CDs, and now we’re back to vinyl again!) I only remember a few of the songs that were on the mixtape, unfortunately, and I regret that I didn’t hold onto it.

My Uncle Jimmy and my Aunt Karen took me to several concerts. My first concert experience was seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Joe Cocker at Blossom Music Center outside of Cleveland.

I am certain that all of this led to my extreme love of music. I’m always listening to some tunes in the car, or when I bake, or when we hang out with friends, and especially when I’m creating artwork. (I’m listening to music now as I edit this email.)

Uncle Tommy may have loved music more than all of my other family members. He had roughly 500 record albums!! His siblings would complain because every time he moved from one apartment to another, they had to lug those “damn” records around for him.

When I was 15 years old, Uncle Tommy had an aneurysm while at work and fell into a coma. A week later, he passed away. He had a three-year-old son, and he and his wife had another baby on the way. It’s so incredibly sad that Uncle Tommy and his second son never had the chance to meet each other.

I didn’t know my dad growing up, and Uncle Tommy was my father figure. He treated me very well; as a matter of fact, he spoiled me! I was really torn up by the loss of him.

For many years, Uncle Tommy’s wife, Aunt Nancy, hung onto his record albums with the intention of giving them to one or both of their sons. She may have gotten tired of toting those records around as she moved, or maybe her sons/my cousins had no interest in them, because when I was 27, Aunt Nancy asked me if I wanted them.

I was excited and delighted, and so willing to take them from place to place as I moved (which, by the way, is definitely a pain!) The effort has been absolutely worth it, though!

Last year, my husband Steve and I decided to organize the records by genre, then artist, then chronological order. This was such an excellent idea, and I don’t know why we didn’t do it sooner. I’m glad Steve thought of it.

Organizing the records by genre revealed just how many types of records Uncle Tommy had and really highlighted his excellent taste in music. The rock section is huge, and the Rolling Stones must have been favorites, since their albums take up a significant space in the rock section. I think my mom and her sisters may have contributed to that specific section also. Uncle Tommy was very heavily into jazz and R&B as well as rock.

There were also some country albums and folk albums, which were not of any interest to me whatsoever. Steve and I managed to auction those albums off on a website called Whatnot. If you like country and folk music, I apologize, but they’re definitely not my taste.

The most delightful part of all of this is that sometimes Uncle Tommy had put one, two, or three dots next to a song, so I was able to see what he really liked above all the rest. And sometimes I happened to love the same song! It gave me such a great view into his life, now that I’m looking back on it as an adult, and it makes me feel connected to him.

I still miss Uncle Tommy dearly, even though it’s been many years since his passing. He was one of my favorite people on Earth, and no one will ever replace him.

Are you beside yourself trying to guess which album from my Uncle Tommy’s collection is my favorite?

I don’t have a lot of music related artwork, so I pulled this one from the doodle archive. Hit reply if you want to know what it’s about.