My son was sitting on the floor sorting out his mail when he happened to glance underneath my desk.

“Where did you get this fabulous speaker,” he said, holding up a box with the JBL logo on the side.

Embarrassed, I admitted it was a Christmas gift from his brother almost a year ago, but I’d never opened the box. I appreciated the gift, but there was another reason the gift stayed in the unopened box for nine months.

“I’m not sure what’s in that box,” I admitted.

“Are you kidding,” he said, shock in his voice. “It’s only one of the best Blue-tooth speakers on the market.”

When I opened the present, I remember thinking it was a thoughtful gift, but I didn’t quite understand how a Bluetooth speaker worked.

Besides, I didn’t think I needed anything fancier than the inexpensive MP3 player I bought off Amazon. I figured out how to put songs on it and, last week, downloaded an audiobook so I could listen to novels while out walking.

I was perfectly fine with the two little speakers hooked to my computer, my Black Friday earphones and a small radio in the kitchen. What did I need with a Bluetooth speaker?

But then Chris pushed a button on the back, and the speaker came to life. With a huge grin on his face, he paired his phone with the speaker and it was like Toby Keith was giving a concert in the room.

Chris explained how easily I could play music from my phone.

I had to belly up to the bar again.

“I don’t have any music on my phone,” I said. “I just use the phone for texting and making phone calls.”

He looked at me like I confessed to churning butter instead of buying Land O Lakes at the grocery store.

“You can play songs from YouTube,” he said and asked me what songs I liked.

“Black Velvet,” I said without hesitating.

The old song by Alannah Miles is one of my favorites. I’m not an Elvis fan, but that sultry song is one of the best around.

In seconds, I was singing along in that “slow, southern style,” and I was amazed once again at the sound and depth of the music coming out of that little speaker.

After he left, I took the directions out and felt stupid seeing how easy it was to use the speaker. All I had to do was pair it with my phone – yes, I can actually do that – and then I could listen to all my favorites as loud as I wanted.

When the house was empty, I paired my phone with the speaker and jumped onto YouTube. I found Wilson Phillips’ song “Hold On,” another favorite, and then went right through the playlist for Martina McBride and James Taylor.

“Sweet Baby James” always makes me cry, and being surrounded by Taylor’s voice while I chopped tomatoes and cucumbers made kitchen duty fly by.

Needing something to kick away the sniffles, I danced my way through all of Credence’s songs – “Favorite Son” and “Bad Moon Rising” which led me to Tina Turner’s version of “Proud Mary.” There’s no way to not sway and sing through those songs.

When I was washing the dishes, I called up Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” and thought about how music has kept me company on long car drives, lonely nights and on glorious days when I felt I had nothing to lose.

I should’ve opened that box months ago.

Thanks, Stephen, for giving me a great gift that brought the sounds of joy back into my every-day life.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.