Day 368
I have a Love/Hate relationship with garage sales! Anoka had their first "All City Garage Sale" today and the crowds were plentiful. My sweet Goldens were not impressed, as they had to spend most of their day gated in the back yard or lurking in the sunroom window. Sam and Gus taught us a lesson when, upon running in to check on them, we realized they had eaten some of the money AND a cable connected to the television...yet to be determined! It is hard to be angry since they just wanted to have a normal day and the hubbub stressed them out!
In the past, at the end of each garage sale, estate sale or moving sale, I have vowed NEVER AGAIN! Yet here I am with a garage and driveway full of "amazing treasures" (stuff). I do enjoy meeting the people who come to peruse our wares and I love to get rid of things we no longer need. That is about where the loving stops!
We have had numerous garage sales over the years. Estate and moving sales have also been part of our experience. My mother and dear Shirley both lived in the little house next door to our home. I still shudder at the task of emptying out the house so that we could clean and ready it for the next resident. There was always a mixture of tears and head-shaking as we watched items leave the house. The tears were full of memories while the shaking of the heads occurred when something strangely unique would be snatched up by someone who couldn't live without it!
After my mother needed 24 hour care, we had an estate sale at the house. Literally hundreds of customers walked through the front door and out the back carrying many of our memories with them. Next, we hired a cleaning company to thoroughly clean the house. Finally, realtors from all over the Twin Cities came through with clients and scrutinized the entire dwelling.
When it was time to say our final good-bye to this little house (We bought it back a couple years later.), I remember having the strongest urge to open a closet door and look under a carpet square on a shelf within. After ALL of those people had gone over the house with magnifying glasses, I was shocked at what I found. $3000 was lying under that carpet! What a special gift from Mom to us!
When our dear Shirley could no longer live in the house, we had another estate sale. Walking the rooms to answer questions, I ran into a woman who said, "You probably don't remember me." Surprisingly, I did! She had been on staff at the residential home where my mother had spent her last months. I thanked her profusely for taking such good care of my mom and told her how sad I was that I couldn't be there for her actual passing. We had been told that she was alone at that time. This wonderful lady said, "I don't know who told you that! There were a number of people, staff and residents, who were with her singing and praying at that time." As tears filled my eyes, I thanked her again for this wonderful news. She responded by saying, "I was driving through the neighborhood and something made me pull in here. I guess it was meant to be!"
I do believe it was meant to be! Serendipity is a wonderful thing! Even though these sales are not my favorite thing, there are precious moments that make them all worthwhile! Unfortunately, Ranger, Lilly, Sam and Gus would not agree with that!
