The iPod Cometh

I wasn't feeling the PhotoShoot yesterday. Just didn't seem like I had enough to really report. But tonight, the inspiration arrived.

It came in a small, re-used cardboard box courtesy of eBay and while you may think Alison was the most overjoyed to see it. (The contents were, afterall, hers) Jeff was even more ecstatic.

Because, you see, the apple didn't fall far from the Reed tree. The box contained Alison's very own iPod. She has, for the past couple of months, been heisting Jeff's iPod so she could listen to "his" music as she fell to sleep. At first, he was thrilled that she loved music just like he does. And then he was over the moon that she prefers rock-and-roll to just about anything else.

Just yesterday, she asked me why I liked country music. "Is it because you grew up in the country?" she asked.

I agreed that maybe, yeah and asked her if she didn't like it even a little. "Well, it's OK, but I like rock and roll better," she said. "And hip-hop."

Uh-huh.

She and Jeff started off slowly with the Beatles and she wore a hold in a CD he made her that was mostly Crazy Frog. Axel-F was her favorite, hands down. But then, she started wanting to listen to it. All the time. First it was the B-52s and Rock Lobster. Then came Vampire Weekend.

But then Jeff shared his iPod and its gazillion tunes. Soon, it was the rare evening when 9 p.m. came and she didn't wheedle his iPod from him. She had him at, "Dad, do you think I could listen to your music?"

Her own iPod came about after much wrangling. It started, I think, when Ali found out that Jenna got an iPod for Christmas. Ali hadn't thought to ask for one -- why should she? She had Jeff's.

But when she thought of having one of her own, she was determined. She proposed the purchase first to me. I sent her to her father. They discussed budget. She has some cash laying around (she likes to have some on hand just in case), and she just sold her Leapster for $50. (She graduated to a DS lite and the Leapster has loads of great fun still in it.)

She was willing to dip into her savings account, but that was a deal breaker -- even for her music starved dad.

Now, Ali and I are not long-term shoppers. We like to get in and get out. But she suffered through going from store to store looking at new iPods and getting prices with only a little frustration. They discussed color choices.

She sat with him as they perused the hundreds of opportunities on eBay.

Music genes notwithstanding, Ali has a lot of her Auntie Jen in her, and when she discovered that she could plunk down $150 or so for a new unit or wait a few days/weeks and spend less than $50, she was in for the delay. She said she didn't care what color she'd get if she could save some money and the unit still worked.

They won their bid last week, I think, but he hasn't mentioned it since. And he's dutifully turned over his iPod to her at bedtime.

But right after dinner tonight, he whips out the box and she has no idea what's in it. She opens it and I swear to all that's holy, she swooned. I could have blown up and flown away through the chimney and neither of them would have noticed.

They've had their heads together ever since. She just now walked in, ear buds firmly in place, huge smile on her face and shared, "I got it to work!!!"

I'm never going to see either one of them again...