Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Thirteen Dollars...Part II

If you have never seen a 70ish woman giggle at the sight of her daughter trying on and removing an authentic beehive wig from the '60s then you're really missing out. I was laughing so hard I made myself have a coughing fit, began to hyperventilate and 'bout made myself throw up. Mom had tears running down her face and kept slapping her knee so hard that she gave herself a big bruise.

As I started to go through some of the other boxes and items that Mom had set out I was met with a rush of memories and emotions from my childhood back on Cherry Fork Road. Sometimes, it's amazing how something so unassuming like a brightly colored orange crock pot circa 1975 can bring forth such powerful emotions. My Dad loved to cook white northern beans in that crock pot. To go along with those beans we would have fried potatoes and corn bread cooked in the cast iron skillet. I can smell them cooking right now.

Other items that we thought had been lost but were now being rediscovered were my father's military uniforms from his hitch in the Army. I also found my cowboy hat from my childhood that I had forgotten having.

It became apparent early on Sunday that it hadn't been such a good idea to have the yard sale on Sunday. After a tasty lunch of T'bone steaks [that Boy (my brother) cooked] and baked potatoes Mom finally agreed it was time to put the stuff away. We had zero, zilch, nada, no one and nobody come to the yard sale on Sunday. It took over four hours to put everything away and to take down the 20+ signs that Mom had put up all over town.

Mom looked like someone had taken a bat to her body because of all the bruises she got from carrying the rubber totes around. I saw her clutch her chest once after lifting a box of National Geographic magazines from 1975 which gave me slight pause but she said she was okay. My bad knee won't bend at all and is stuck ramrod straight. We were exhausted.

Mom said she had had such a good time and had made some money (125 bucks) that she was going to have the yard sale again in a few weeks. She said I could leave my stuff there if I wanted too and come back and help out once again.

I'm not really sure about that. If you haven't figured it out by now I didn't really make any money in my two days of selling.

Yep, I only made thirteen dollars!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I still use my bright fire-orange crockpot from the 70s!

Rae said...

I would love to come to your yard sale- sounds like my kind of junk! You may have only made $13, but made priceless memories with your Mom. Good luck next week! :)

lizB said...

Yes! The little things we find that bring such powerful emotions! How very true. Sometimes a fabric, sometimes a linoleum pattern, a colored coffee cup.

I love going to garage sales so I can try and find the dishes and things my grandmas had. My kitchen is packed full of stuff I don't need, but it brings so much nostalgia. I still have one gram, but lost the other in 1998 to colon cancer.

Did you know that once summer's over and your sick of having garage sales, you can call the salvation army and they'll come pick up the stuff you didn't sell? Well, they'll do that here anyway. I don't know if it's the same everywhere.

Liz

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