If you’re just tuning in, I’m searching the world for a bunch of autographed albums that were once in my possession. I never thought for a second that it would be easy. I can’t believe I’ve had as much success as I’ve had already. Getting them back has been a thrill each time one hits my doorstep. I’ve said before that each album or single I’m searching for represents a particular moment in time for me. But as I was thinking of the following story, I pondered how music had the ability to change sentimentality over time.
When my daughter was an infant, on nights when she’d wake up crying, I’d calm her down by singing one of my favorite songs: ‘Live Forever’ by Oasis. Now years later, it’s a song she still asks me to play on my iPod to comfort her. In 1994, I bought the 7" single and had it signed by the original lineup before a show at St. Andrew’s Hall. It’s still in my possession and now when I see it, I don’t think about the Gallagher brothers, or the concert. I think about my daughter and know that at some point when I’m dead and buried, she’ll hear that song one day and think of me and (hopefully) smile. Ultimately, these records are just pieces of pressed vinyl with a groove of sound and Sharpie marker on the sleeve, but maybe the mid-life crisis portion of this project is knowing they are more that that. It’s the reason why I didn’t just go out and buy new copies of my old records.
Being an unapologetic Harry Potter geek, I started to think my quest is similar to that of Griffyndor’s most famous resident. For those unfamiliar with the story, Harry learns that the evil wizard Lord Voldemort has hidden pieces of his soul in several horcruxes in an attempt to cheat death forever.
Horcrux: An object in which a Dark wizard or witch has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality. (Source: harrypotter.wikia.com)
While I don’t think I’ll live forever as long as my copy of Live Forever exists somewhere in the world, maybe in my daughter’s memories, I will. How many times do we play a song and mentally travel back in time? How many conversations have started “Oh my God! I remember exactly where I was when this song came out!” The thing I’ve noticed from the records I’ve reacquired is that even though I haven't seen them in a decade or longer, the minute I’ve unwrapped the package, I remember details long forgotten — Who I was with; If it was raining or cold that day; What record store I bought it from; Why the sleeve has a crease; Whether the artist was drunk or high the night they signed it; etc.
I think that everyone has objects in their lives that are de facto horcruxes. There are women I know that would go straight Slytherin if their shoes were misplaced. I’m surprised Buzzfeed hasn’t already written a listicle titled “Top 10 Horcruxes of Americans”.
In the Harry Potter books, Harry and his friends search the entire wizarding world for these objects, destroying each one until Voldemort is “mortal” enough to be killed one-on-one. I‘m searching the world with a few clues trying to buy back the horcruxes of my life…and enjoying the hell out of it.
