Garage Sale Memories
Our family had a garage sale this past summer. The goal was to unload as much stuff as possible, and we accomplished just that, making a few bucks in the process.
It had been a few years since we had had a sale. In fact, our son was in diapers the last time, and he is 7 now. As I gathered up items in the weeks prior to the sale, I was amazed at how quickly things accumulate, especially when you have kids.
Our house is rather small, and my husband’s parents let us use a corner of their basement for storage purposes. There we have tubs of baby clothes, books and toys, most of which we intend to pass on to our children’s children.
As I sifted through the contents of the tubs in preparation for the sale, I realized that we could open our own retail store with the amount of stuff I once deemed too sentimental to part with. Some of the t-shirts and onesies I barely remembered; those went into the sale pile. The rest was consolidated and labeled … ahh, organization!
We also could have opened our own dealership—of the bike and trike variety. There was an entire wall of neatly parked two-, three- and four-wheeled vehicles. Two kids rode all these? They should be adept enough to drive a car by now.
I reminisced about the blue, red and yellow scooter that a friend gave to our daughter when she was 1. It was the kind toddlers sit on and push with their feet. Our daughter, now 10, used to travel around the house on that thing, holding her beloved Clifford the Big Red Dog. I have pictures in her scrapbooks of a pajama-clad, sleepy-eyed girl on that scooter.
After spending a few minutes fondly recalling the kids’ wheeled adventures, I decided there was really no point in hanging on to all those vehicles. Our kids had outgrown them, and they were taking up too much room; other kids would get some enjoyment out of them.
One thing I cannot yet part with is the kids’ crib bedding and nursery décor. Our daughter had jungle animal sheets, with wall hangings to match. Our son had farm animal bedding, also with wall hangings and other décor.
Every piece is stored in tubs, and I sorted through them, fingering the worn sheets and smiling at the cute fabric animals that used to decorate their nurseries.
Maybe someday I’ll pass them on to someone who needs them, or maybe I will save them for our future grandkids. For now, though, they remain in storage.
After several hours–spread over a few days–of digging, sorting and reminiscing, I felt content with the items we kept and the things we parted with. After the sale, we donated the leftovers.
Purging feels good once in a while, but so does hanging on to special memories.
Tisha Foley lives with her family in Belton. She is thankful for the memories and for now having a clean and organized home.