I’ve never had a garage or yard sale. Not because those things are beneath me, mind you. Oh no. I’ve attended many a garage sale and still look to a good yard sale for this or that. I’ve never conducted a garage sale because I don’t want to do the work. And that’s the truth. I know how I am, and if I were to host a yard sale, I’d want everything to be just so and presented in this way and priced/labeled and orderly and I’m already making myself crazy, just thinking about it!
As it happens, I do end up with things – good things, not trash – that need to leave my home. And those things are relegated to what I call “The Goodwill Pile.” I usually have a large bag of clothes going, and I add to it until it’s filled. Small appliances or housewares go to the designated area, too. Once there’s a decent amount (or the area is just too danged full), I call the fine folks at the Vietnam Veterans of America and they come pick it all up. It’s a win-win situation as far as I’m concerned.
Recently I came across a “Habitat Restore” and checked it out. For those who don’t know, the Restore is part of Habitat for Humanity and its efforts to provide homes for folks who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have their own houses. Some of what’s for sale in the Restores comes from demo jobs done by Habitat volunteers. One can find kitchen and bathroom cabinets there. I saw various moulding and trim pieces. There were pallets of bricks and tile, as well as appliances and HVAC units. Those are bigger things and the money saved from buying from a Restore can be mucho. But I also saw things donated by regular folks. Things like furniture and decorative objects. And the pieces I eyed were super-well-priced.
Anyhoo – I had a few items to donate that weren’t the sorts of things I usually give to the Vets. In particular, I had 2 lovely silk lamp shades and a coffee table. They were good pieces and I wanted them to go to a worthy cause, so I loaded up the old Volvo and dropped them off at a Habitat Restore. As a young dude was helping to take the coffee table out of my car, he started asking about the table and saying how good it looked. I told him I had refinished that piece myself and that we had loved it for a long, long time. He thought it was in too good of shape to be very old, and asked just how long. I thought for a second, then told him how we had lived and loved around that table for 22 years. He was impressed and took the table and lamp shades into the store to be priced.
And that’s when it hit me. Thoughts of when we’d gotten that table and how we’d moved it around with us danced through my mind. I remembered working on it in the driveway of a former abode and how happy I was with how it had turned out. Food and drink had been spilled on that table, and feet had been propped up there as well. Bills had been spread out on its surface and our only pet, Moby Joe Fish, had lived his all-too-short life there.
After thinking about the old table, I felt a flood of gratitude. And I thought about how I hope someone else will find it in the Restore, take a shine to its antique nail head trim and decide to carry it home. And then they can live and love around its gleaming wood surface as well. Maybe make their own memories. Who knows? Maybe the love already witnessed by that table will somehow emanate from it into its new home. That wouldn’t be too shabby now, would it?
I am a sentimental lady, I know. That’s not a bad thing, friends. And when sweet, sweet memories cross my mind, I am grateful. Grateful to be a gal who is sentimental, and grateful to have a life full of touching recollections. We should all be so lucky.