We are in the process of packing up 9 years of our life at 180 W. Mulberry. Packing is so much more than putting stuff in boxes. Well, at least it is for this sentimental semi-hoarder. We had 2 moving sales this past weekend and will have one more. In the mean time, as Matt is away, it is my primary responsibility to sort through and put things into 3 piles. Save, Sell, Give away. Our yard sales are funding our travel expenses to our new home in Ryder, North Dakota.
Yard Sale Stuff
This is the easy pile. These are all the things accumulated along the way of life that is no longer of use, is outdated, unwanted and the excess loads of our lives. So many times stuff just finds it way into your home and needs to be purged. Things at the time we thought we needed or wanted no longer have their appeal or usefulness. Clothes begin here and then wll move to the givewaway pile. Toys the kids have outgrown and don't have sentimental value belong here. Leftover stuff. Yard sale stuff allows our old stuff to become someone else's new find.
Yard sales are fun to do and watch. People are funny. Interesting.
You get the drive-bys, who simply drive up, stay in their car as they scour your sale seeing if there is anything worth getting out for. I have to be honest. These people often hurt my feelings. "What? My junk isn't good enough for you?" :-)
You get the browsers. People out for their morning walk and stop and visit and look through your stuff.
You get the talkers. People who have no intention of buying anything but want to stop and visit since you are outside.
You get the bargain hunters that no matter how low you price something, it's gotta go lower. "50 cents is simply too much for that winter coat. I'll give you a quarter." These people drive me crazy as I never have been looking to make a mint on a yard sale, but c'mon.
Then you get the people yard sales are for. These are my favorite. People who truly need some new things and need a bargain. I have been here before and I not ashamed to say needed a bargain myself. They look for clothes for their kids or grandkids. Toys. A bike. Kitchen table. Those interactions with people make us glad to help in these hard times. I do also think that bargain is the new cool. :-) I never put out broken items or clothes that are ratted or torn. I feel it's insulting. It's giving some else your garbage. People of all shapes and sizes come and look through and pick out stuff. My favorite is when children come and gravitate to our "everything is 25 cents" box of unused toys. I remember watching our kids play with them and my kids still love to yard sale with me and find amazement in little things.
One man this past weekend was shopping and then began to tell us his story. You can tell who lives at the home of the yard sale based on the books they are selling. My table was filled with Christian books and weight loss manuals. Pretty well sums up my life. :-) He was looking at the books and was telling us his battle with stage 4 cancer. The doctors had given him a year to live. He had told us about the radiation treatments he had and how much weight he had lost. But then he began to gain the weight back and he knew he had a second shot at life. He and his girlfriend go on their own to a nearby nursing/retirement center and visit with the people there. They always like to bring them something to lift their spirits and he was looking at some little trinkets representing faith. He bought a couple of things for about 50 cents and then we looked through the table together and we gave him all the little devotional books we could find so he could pass them out. He was truly grateful.
He said, "I just want to give back."
Loved it. Remembered it. Want to emulate it.
Giveaway Stuff
Another easy one. Let's be honest. Giveaway stuff is usually everything we don't sell. We box it up and drop it off at the local Goodwill truck where volunteers sit and wait on Saturday and Sunday evenings for all the yard sale people to come by.
Sunday night, exhausted from the two day sale we had, I took all the clothes, shoes, purses and hats we didn't sell and bagged them up. We had about 5 large black garbage bags full. Corinne, my 7 year old and I drove over to the Goodwill truck by the K-Mart and found the faithful volunteers, I assume, in their blue Goodwill vests waiting for drop off donations. As I drove up next to the truck, the men graciously began to unload our heavy bags with a smile and kind disposition. As we talked, I wondered about their stories. Wondered if they were once receipiants of kindness to get them through a rough time. What makes another person look to meet the needs of another? Here they are. Volunterring for an organization known to meet the needs of the underresourced. In the hot sun of Vegas, they smile and assist and do what they can for others. Corinne and I talked on the way home about Goodwill and the reality is that many people are hurting and are dependent upon the kindness of strangers.That it is right to share. To give. It reflects God who is the Ultimate Giver who gave everything in His Son Jesus. Those Goodwill men making it happen and by their very presence in the parking lot remind everyone who drives by to look to meet the needs of others.
Love it. Remembered it. Want to emulate it.
To Save Stuff
Here's the fun and very slow part for this sentimental heart. These are the things that tell the stories of our lives. In the back of drawers and cabinets, I am finding memories that take me all the way to high school. Memories of friendship. Faith. Pictures of people I still hold a place of importance in my heart to this day. This part I cannot rush through for it is essentially - me. I know I will be doing a great deal of reflection in the next several months about my more than 19 years in Las Vegas. I was 27 when I arrived. Single. Young. Naive. Excited. Thinner :-). I know I will ask the question to God, "Did it matter? Did it count?" and in my time of prayer He will show me what He wants to about these 19 years. Many things will go unknown until heaven and the tape of my life is shown from an eternal perspective, but I will seek to know. And I am confident that the faces of people whom I treasure will immediately come to mind. I will remember people who took me in and fed me. People whom I served with and went to foreign countries with. Students who are now parents themselves whom I loved like they were my own. People whom I only crossed paths with for a moment to pray in times of need or prayed with me and encouraged me. Couples whom I had the privilege of performing their marriage. Families of those who passed away and I officiated the services. Small groups and Bible study little communities we were a part of. BBQ's filled with laughter. Camping trips. Family gatherings and on and on and on. People. That's what I will remember. I found a cassette tape (remember those?) given to me by 2 of our guy students many many years ago. They had recorded themselves singing favorite songs to us and I think about how wonderfully silly and goofy those years were and the fact that we were such a part of their lives for them to do that makes me smile as I write now.
I found pictures of Matt's and my honeymoon tucked away. How new we were to this whole marriage thing and here we are. A little more worn. A little more wiser. Stronger. Humbled by the calling of marriage, yet one. That one-ness that God has done is our foundation to go on this strange new adventure together.
I found little notes and bookmarks made by my kids for Mom's Day or just because. Scribbly kindergarten writing to tell their mom they love her. Pictures when they were so little. Those years went by SO quickly and these pictures and tokens of love are what I have to remember and share with them THEIR life story they are writing right now.
Our little farm house in North Dakota will be stretched to the rafters with the "To Save" stuff I am bringing. I know Matt doesn't always understand why I cannot throw away many of these things. But maybe that's the mom's job. The mom's heart to the family. Letting the "To Save" stuff tell the family's story.
Yard Sale Stuff. Giveaway Stuff. To Save Stuff. It's more than stuff when love and community surround it.
Gotta get back to it now. :-)
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