On a bitter cold December day about thirty-five years ago, Peter and I and the kids decided at the last minute to make a one-day trip from Boston to Long Island and back for Peter’s Aunt Kathe’s 85th^th birthday party. Since the kids didn’t like road trips and this would be a road trip on steroids, we bought every forbidden snack we could think of to keep the kids (and us) going.

The party in the afternoon was not memorable, but it was the right thing to do.  The trip home was memorable. We played the tape (remember tapes?) of Peter, Paul and Mary and sang “If I Had a Hammer…” and other PP&M classics over and over, at the top of our lungs, while indulging in salty snacks, sugary drinks and candy.

The long-playing record (remember LP’s?) “The Best of Peter, Paul and Mary” was a staple in our home.  Of course, we hadn’t listened to it since our long-playing records migrated to New Hampshire to friends who still had a record player after we converted to CD’s. 

But recently, LP’s have come back and, at our son Seth’s request, we re-possessed ours.  Another friend, hearing about our record re-possession gave us his LP collection and a record player, so Seth would be all set.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Seth and I visited a used LP store so that he could round out his new LP collection.  He asked me to pick out some folk music and when I saw the Peter, Paul and Mary album, I grabbed it.

We attached his “new” record player to our speakers when we got home and listened to the “The Best of Peter Paul and Mary”.

That long, cold, snack-filled trip to Long Island could have been yesterday.