A tear ran down my face. How could I give this away? I decided then and there to make two piles, one for the stuff that was going to Goodwill and the other the stuff we would keep. I bent down to pick up the box and put it in the “keep” pile. As I walked back into the office, I decided to then sort through his old record albums. Most of them were in perfect condition. I gently began to wipe the dust off them, when I came across his second post-it on a Commodores record . . .”Please play “Just To Be Close To You” for your mother, so she knows how much she meant to me all these years.”

My hands started shaking and I was afraid to look any further. I looked back at the 8-track/record player and decided to hook it up to the speaker system. Maybe if I just did as he told me to do, it would ease the process. I connected the system and pressed the “power” button. Darn thing still worked. Then I took the record out, put it on the turntable, selected the appropriate rpm and set the needle on the record.