When I was in Junior Highschool, my Mom gave me a radio for Christmas that looked like a Coke bottle.

My Mom used to give me radios every Christmas – some were transitor radios in different colors. Some were in stuffed animals ( I had a Snoopy Radio ). It was her thing. She even gave me a Sony Walkman the year they hit the market. I thought I was so cool,  Walkmans  were the  ‘it’ thing to have and I actually owned one when they were the hottest thing on the market.

Back then most of us kids walked or rode the local buses to wherever it was we were going, so having a radio to carry along on those long walks was really nice.

Photographer Unknown

My Mom grew up in the 50’s and music as  you know was a BIG part of that era. So If I wanted records she would buy them for me. When I wanted to skip school to go to concerts she didn’t say I could go. She just bought me the tickets and left them on the dining room table.  I think she thought kids were supposed to be into Rock and Roll so I guess buying me records and radios and concert tickets was traditional in her mind.

Plus I was a good student and I worked my little backside off babysitting and doing yard work for pocket money, so my parents were pretty generous because I never really asked for anything. With the money I earned I could buy what I wanted and I never asked for an allowance either.

I think I enjoyed getting those radios from my Mom because my parents were not huggers and they were not going to stand on the sidelines and cheer me on when it came to anything I did, but when they gave me those radios or records, when they just dropped them on me from the clear blue sky I knew that was their way of saying ” Good job kid “.

That’s probably why I still have some of those radios and records and concert stubs  in my treasure box to this day.

RDP Monday: RADIO