It’s official. Two newspaper ads are in print so that means we are going through with our garage sale Friday:
ATTIC TREASURES, antiques, household, 8-4, Friday, Sept. 18, Fiddler’s Green, 8754 Carriage Lane, Pendleton. The classified-ad rep said I still had space. Would I like to add anything? I could have gone specific: a porch swing, outdated technology, an entertainment center, a tin minnow bucket, a chamber pot. Nope. The ad sounds about right. Sometimes, I have treated garage-sale ads like literature, but not this time. Don’t miss this one! my yard-sale ad stressed one year. The cars rolled in … then quickly rolled out when the people saw that they could, indeed, miss that one. I try to leave a little mystery in a garage sale. For this ad, my best effort is ATTIC TREASURES. I’m banking on images of the TV show American Pickers popping up, of the myth that Oh, shucks, we’ll let that Rembrandt go for a dollar because it’s your lucky day. But of course, we have no Rembrandts. The reality is that the ATTIC TREASURES include a nice hiking backpack from Sam’s Boy Scouting days, some wreaths I’m tired of, chair pads, etc. (Emphasis on etc.) I am selling a few antiques, and I’m hoping those will fetch enough to make the sale worthwhile. There’s a children’s rocker, some crocks, a really old doll bed. And the “household” element – that’s just what it sounds like—the exact kind of miscellaneous stuff you have in your closets and drawers. We’re also selling a large entertainment center that nicely houses, you guessed it, old technology, a dresser and mirror, a non-antique wheelbarrow, fertilizer spreader. It’s not one of those “estate sale-everything must go” sales. When we started really going through things, we decided that there was plenty we are just not ready to part with. Brian said it means that we are simply not yet ready for “the home.” Comforting, I suppose. We'll see what happens. So many of life’s rewards I find in that “see what happens” category. Learn something new from a neighbor. See an old friend. See a newer friend. The last time I had a garage sale, something special happened that I figured God arranged because God is like that. He can use even a common garage sale for good. The sale was five years ago, the fall that both boys moved out in a single day – Sam to an apartment in Indy, and Ben back to sophomore year of college. That fall, I revamped Sam’s childhood room into guest quarters, cleared the clothes they didn’t want from their closets, had Brian do the same with his, and advertised that I had a large amount of young men’s and old man’s (but I didn’t say old man) clothes. The heaping piles of folded male clothing sat there at the sale. All day long. I planned to load it up and haul it to Goodwill. But then just before closing, a man visited whom I recognized from the boys’ baseball years. He said he was with a prison ministry that provides clothing to men about to be released and who often have nothing to wear out the door. What would I take for the clothing? I gave him all of it, plus a couple of suitcases we were selling besides. We also talked about an article for the newspaper since his ministry was in New Castle –where I work. I felt elated that there was a REASON I felt on a mission about gathering up all those clothes and putting them out there. This is so much like the joys we have along life’s way. We set out with one goal, as in making a few bucks at a garage sale, but find other benefits that may have nothing to do with money. We bless others, as with the clothes. We enjoy an unexpected visit with a friend who drops by and chats for a while. And if nothing else, we purge the closets and drawers and attics of stuff. And we begin again. Come on over Friday. Let’s see what happens. Don’t miss this one. Not really. In fact, you can miss this one and be just fine. But I’d like to see you anyway. Do you need a minnow bucket?
1 Comment
I wish I lived closer! Tom (he loves the atmosphere of garage sales!) and I would stop by. I have used humor and Craig's List to advertise our garage sales in the past 5 years. When our youngest moved out, I had a "Launched the Kid and Now Cleaning Out His Room" sale" for all the stuff he left behind because he no longer wanted it.
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