5 Year Old Me and the Record Player

It must've been before Kindergarten. I must've around 5. My focus was a lot sharper back then on smaller details. I remember the Michael Jackson Thriller record. For some reason the texture of the record itself always felt funny to me and I was always nervous about breaking them. I'd sit and watch the different reflection of light that would come with each different strip of song. It was clear to me that the different strips were individual tracks,but I had nooooo idea how a simple strip could make such a miraculous sound. How it could contain so much life. I would watch the needle run along the grooves and notice the subtle rise and fall of a slightly uneven record. Kind of like breathing. And that sound, that music that would come out of those two speakers, holy shit!! It was like another world just broke through into mine. It was like magic. Whenever I'd hear a Michael Jackson tune I'd be up on my feet. I'd be swept up in that world. Nothing could interrupt. I was the youngest in my family, easily outwitted, outrun, overpowered but when I'd dance I would be all that I thought I lacked. I knew Michael Jackson's every move. In my head, I would take his place in his music videos. Completely immersed and feeling that back beat and bass. For those intervals of 4 minutes each I'd be fearless. I can still get lost in the music like that today, and often do.