Kenwood, Pioneer....New Life and a Cleaner Carport

My doorbell rang this afternoon and I opened the door to a young man inquiring about the stereo equipment I have sitting piled up in a corner of my carport. He said he has some equipment in his dorm room but needed some piece and asked if I’d sell that particular unit to him. I walked outside with him and looked at it all. These were Al’s things, stuff we bought years ago. Things I have no understanding of. Stacked components? Tuners? Subwoofers? All I know is they haven’t been used in years and they are (or were) quality pieces of electronics. Al loved music and loved to turn it up loud and he bought the best.

But over the years as certain pieces failed and needed parts replaced we’d just set the equipment aside as other interests took over. Sometime after Al passed I loaded all the equipment and stacked it in the family room eventually moving it out to the carport. My plan was to list it on Craigslist and sell it – hell, I figured I could use the money. But I needed to do research to figure out what I actually had and what to charge so there it sat.

So when this young man appeared at my door this afternoon I knew it was right to just offer it to him. I told him that if he was interested he could take all of it for free, not just the one piece he needed. He looked at me somewhat disbelievingly. I told him I had no use for it anymore and didn't even know if it was usable. He said he can rebuild things and definitely use parts from all of it. I asked again if he wanted to have it all. He said absolutely, that he just needed to get his friend to help him cart it away.

As much as Al loved that stuff and took pride in it, I know he would have loved to see that young man’s face when I told him he could have it all. It’s kind of weird letting go of those items since I associate my husband with them but it feels good too. Kind of like breathing new life in to something old. And just a little bit of a smile spread across my face.