Did you know that you can actually buy an FM/AM Radio-Cassette-Playing-Boombox at Best Buy? You can. Apparently, they are still being made new. In the Year of Our Lord 2025.
You may be wondering why on earth I would want to buy an FM/AM Radio-Cassette-Playing-Boombox. Turns out there’s a lovely reason.
I was rummaging through some things in my basement, when I found cassette tapes. They are sermon tapes from David, one of my most significant influences who died in 2009. It’s been many years since I’ve played any of them. In fact, I thought they were all lost when I had water damage in my basement four years ago. It turns out that the repair crew had just moved them.
I have hours of him talking — often, wise and deep, and sometimes, with hilarious stories and rants. I decided I would like to find a cassette playing boombox so I could revisit these, and I asked if anyone had one on an online Buy Nothing group. No luck there. So on a whim, I decided to search online, wondering if I might order one from a warehouse somewhere. It turns out that Best Buy still sells them, and my local store had them in stock. I went right over and bought one.
Last night, for the first time in years, I listened to David’s wisdom and hilarious stories and rants. I loved it so much. You might think that after losing a loved one, a voice might evoke tears of sadness or tears of joy. I actually did feel joy, but no tears. I realized that hearing him felt like the most normal experience in the world.
I think I’ve felt very connected to him the whole time.
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 