Going back to elementary school, I remember having a clock radio. When my bedtime was too early for when I was actually tired, I would tune into the baseball AM radio station. I listened to the Astros game with the volume set to barely a whisper. I stared at the red digital readout until I fell asleep and the sleep timer turned off the game.
Sometime during middle school, that clock radio died, and my mom gave me a “new” one that looked something like this.
I’m almost certain it wasn’t new because, even then, it looked retro. My grandparents owned an appliance store, so I suspect it was plucked out of the inventory there.
However, it was still an upgrade. I could press the hour and minute buttons to set the time. This may sound obvious. However, my old one had two other buttons for setting the time: hold one to fast forward time, and hold the other to slowly go backwards.
It actually kind of worked in practice.
Anyways, the pictured alarm clock served me well for awhile. When I was in high school, my grandpa was visiting and was sleeping in my room presumably because I had one of the better beds. One night, he left my halogen bedside lamp turned on and fell asleep. In the morning, the plastic over the button had warped: it clearly wasn’t right, but it still worked fine.
I used that alarm clock all through college to get me to my morning classes. Interestingly, I always set the alarm to use the radio rather than the buzzer because the radio was just louder and more likely to get me out of bed.
My children were enamored by it as well. It has buttons. It makes noises and does things. They loved turning on the radio, and I learned that the volume control no longer works. Turning the black dial does nothing, so if the radio is on, it is on at full blast.
Somehow, the children find the vacuum, blender, and the like to be unbearable rackets, but the max volume radio static to be a delight.
One day, one of my children asked if they could have my clock radio. I suggested that we could get a different clock radio for them, but they specifically wanted mine. I still needed it myself though, so I put the issue off for another time.
On a trip back to Texas, I told my brother-in-law this story, and he said that he kept his old clock radios and offered one to me. A moment later, he came back with exactly the same model as mine.
Apparently, the volume problem is a design defect because his clock radio had exactly the same problem as mine: the volume dial doesn’t work.
Anyways, he had another similar Sony clock radio that we actually preferred more, so we took that one with us.
Skipping a few steps, the requesting child ended up not liking the substitute clock radio. I really wanted them to have a clock in their room, and the answer was obvious: they still wanted mine, and we could trade.
It wasn’t for long, but I did hesitate. Except when I was away from home, that same clock radio had been next to me every night for about 25 years.
It did make me wonder: what else have I used every day for the longest? I have kept books and notebooks and toys, but I don’t use most of those regularly. Even if I did, most of that didn’t make it to college with me. I have used my wallet for awhile, but I got that one as an adult. I don’t wear any jewelry.
I think the winner is my key ring. I got my first key ring with my house key sometime growing up. The keys and key chains have changed, but they were always attached to the same ring itself. Honestly, unless I lose it, I can’t imagine why I would need to change it in my entire life.
My dad has had the same alarm clock as long as I can remember, and I think he still uses it. My parents had all sorts of “old” things around like bikes or jackets. As a child, I wondered why they still kept things decades later. As an adult, I wonder why things don’t last longer to keep for decades.
Anyways, I’m not particularly sentimental about switching alarm clocks. It really isn’t a big deal: the clock radio is now sitting maybe 20 feet away from me a room over, and I still see it every day putting my children to bed.
But if the chance comes up, I’ll take that alarm clock back.