I am not much of a fan of yard sales, either going to one or having one. The last yard sale we hosted was back in 2003, right before we piled our cars with the stuff we wanted to keep and headed north on Highway 52 from Davidson County to Mount Airy. It was such a memorable experience that my wife and I swore we'd never do it again.
As they say, famous last words.
But you can't blame us, can you? I mean, what would you do if your 7-year old son came to you one day and said he wanted to have a yard sale because our family had lots of stuff we didn't really need and there were probably others out there who needed it more than us? And what if he also said he thought it'd be a great idea to give all the money away to help the wildlife suffering in the Gulf oil spill, as well as the children in Haiti still dealing with the ill effects of January's earthquake?
So there we were, Friday afternoon, filling our living room with an abundance of "stuff," making signs on neon poster board, labeling items with pre-marked price tags. We got up at 6:30 (me after getting home from a Mediocre Bad Guys gig at 2:30) to get ready for the yard sale at 8. As fully expected, they started coming at 7. We were literally dragging things out the front door as people were perusing and purchasing them.
In the genre of contradictory statements there is probably none greater than "enjoyable yard sale." But that truly was the case here. And I am fully aware that the planets aligned in a way they probably never will again to make it so. The local newspaper had come the day before to interview Elder about his yard sale and where he got the idea to give the funds to Gulf oil spill and Haiti relief, and the article (which you can read HERE) was the lead story in Saturday morning's paper, plastered at the very top of the front page - complete with a picture of two adorable boys seated in a mass of yard sale goodies. (picture & article courtesy of Mondee Tilley & The Mount Airy News)
So not only did we have a steady turnout of people all morning, but we also had a lot of very generous folks. Generous with their willingness, on the most part, to not haggle so much on the price, a staple of most yard sale experiences. Generous with their praise for our boys, reaffirming the good thing they were doing. And even generous with their own stuff. Over the course of the week we had invited friends to donate any goods, which they did. What we hadn't anticipated were complete strangers bringing things that morning for us to sell. These were items they could've easily taken to Goodwill on the other side of town for a tax write-off. Instead they brought it for us - well, for our 7-year old, really. Just another reason we love living in this great little town.
Yard sales are transitional moments of sorts, primarily for the seller, as it has been determined that some item has outlived its usefulness in that particular setting and should find another home. This can be a bit of a bittersweet moment. At one point I looked out on our front lawn and saw signs of a past chapter in our family's life. There was the crib in which both our boys slept every night in their early years, a changing table where you-know-what was changed, an infant car seat, our first stroller, and the nighttime camera we had in the nursery. I'll never forget waking in the wee hours of the morning to see my wife intently watching that tiny TV screen strategically positioned inches from her face on her nightstand, as if the life of the newborn baby displayed depended on it. Our boys are 7 and 5 now, long past the need for such things. And there's a tinge of sadness to that, to be honest; to finally let go. But we are glad that someone else can take them and get use out of them as we did (although we didn't sell the crib, so if anyone's interested, let us know).
Later that afternoon, after the huge thunderstorm roared through just minutes after we packed everything up and hauled the very few remains to Goodwill, our 7-year old and his mother sat at the kitchen table to meticulously count all the dollar bills and change. And when all was said and done we had a grand total of $490.33, an amount unheard of in most yard sale experiences. My wife sent out an email announcing the good news and promptly received a half-dozen responses from folks saying they'd donate the remaining $9.67 to bring the total to an even $500 - something the boy had expressed in the newspaper article as being very important to him.
So the final tally is still undetermined, but we do know that our son will be able to make a pretty sweet donation to two very important causes. And perhaps more importantly he's learned that when you get an idea on how to help someone or something and act on it, and let others know about it, folks will be more than happy to jump on the bandwagon with you. We got rid of a lot of stuff yesterday, but honestly, I think our family got so much more than we let go of.
Recent Comments