Happy Records Of The Past

(My grandmother passed away this year at 95 years old. She was the only grandparent I ever knew well, the others having passed away before I was born or when I was very young. She and I shared a love for vintage jewelry and clothing, and “oldies” music. The rest of my family is happy to let me have her record collection from her estate. It takes me a while to go through all of them; there are only twelve 33 rpm albums left from her original collection, but over one hundred 45 rpm singles, like you would find in a jukebox. After I’ve finally gone through each one to make sure none are broken, scratched beyond playing, etc., I call my dad.)

Me: “Hi, Dad.”

Dad: “Hey, [My Name]! What’s up?”

Me: “Just finished going through Grandma’s records. I’m so happy to have them, but organizing them made me miss her even more.”

Dad: “I understand. I’m glad you got them. No one else would appreciate all of them like you do. Do they all still play?”

Me: “Yes! I can’t believe how many she had in storage! Over one hundred 45 singles, and they’re all in great condition.”

Dad: *chuckles* “Yeah, I’d forgotten about those.”

Me: “And they’re really an eclectic mix of genres. I’m surprised she was interested in some of these.”

Dad: “Oh, she didn’t pick all of them out. Did I not tell you how she got them?”

Me: “No… How?”

Dad: *laughs* “When I was a kid, [Brand] potato chips ran a promotion where you got a coupon for a ten-cent record on the back of each bag. If you sent the coupon in, they’d send you a 45 record through the mail. It was usually a single disc of one of the popular radio hits of the month. Your grandma bought so many bags of potato chips that year I got sick of them!” *laughs again* “If you see any records that still have the ten-cent sticker on the label part, those are from the chip coupons.”

Me: *laughing too* “That’s great! I never would have thought of that!”

Dad: “You should contact [Brand] potato chips and tell them about your collection!”

(It wasn’t a long conversation, but it made me feel better, and it was great to add one of my dad’s funny memories about my grandma to my own. Maybe now I should keep an eye out for a jukebox for sale!)