Day 279
If you are ever feeling a little too attached to your “things”; I have a reality check for you. Go to an estate sale.
There is something about a full house of carefully collected and cherished possessions being combed through and carried off piecemeal by strangers that makes me morose, not enough not to buy anything mind you, but sad nonetheless. Believe me, I know that the relatives can’t take it all and I am brightened that it is getting a second life. But, it’s still disconcerting to me, maybe because it is such brazen reminder of my own impermanence.
Yesterday, I stopped at an estate sale to try to find some hardware for something I was trying to fix (more on that in a moment). It was late in the day, so I’m sure a good deal of stuff had already been carted off, but there was still a huge quantity of remaining things to include a large collection of Native American and Old West memorabilia as well as an entire room of items paying homage to the Chicago Cubs and Bears.
A Chicago Native?
The Old West with price tages
It’s funny for me to think that the things that seem so important to me now, the items I use to decorate our home, the functional, the sentimental are all likely to become a conversation piece at my estate sale one day. Here are actual snippets of conversation I heard yesterday.
“Look at that, he collected Indian artifacts and buffalo statues. Yeah, he REALLY likes Buffaloes…”
“Did you see all of that Chicago Cubs stuff upstairs? Do you think Chuck might want any of it? See if you can call him…”
“…ROUND bed, I heard they had two, this is the only one left.”
“WHO would kill a baby bear?”
“Do you think he died or just went to a nursing home?”
These are the types of things I was thinking as well, particularly the one about the bear cub as they were selling (for the amazing price of $350) a bear cub rug. It was unsettling to me, I can only hope it was hit by a car or some other accidental death before its second life underfoot.
Cub, but not one from Chicago
For my purposes, estate sales usually sell all manner of tools, hardware and supplies, like duct tape, twine, unopened craft supplies, vintage fabrics and other items that I am not buying this year, but I often find myself wishing I had.
Yesterday, I needed a nut to replace one lost for the clamp on a scooter.
Nuts
There were four sitting on the workbench, and they just gave them to me, which I thought was very nice. So, it was a successful trip even if it did make me a bit melancholy for the rest of the day. I guess unless you are an Egyptian Pharaoh, you can’t take it with you. And based on archeological finds, even those guys, aren’t actually USING their stuff in the next life.
My mother LIVES for estate sales. It’s sort of creepy, I agree. We’ve had two estate sale dining sets, furniture galore… she just comes home with furniture all the time. When I express my distaste, she just tells me I’ll make a ton of money at HER estate sale. Sigh!
Your mother sounds fun, I love to hear you talk about her…and she does have a point 🙂
I like estate sales more than I should. I generally see the optimistic side of them. People with full lives, and families who have taken all the family memorablila (pictures, etc.) One woman had been a dancer, and she kept a dress that looked like something Ginger Rogers would have worn. What experiences she must have had!
Or maybe I’m just morbid. 😀
Roberta- That is probably a better way to look at it. I should probably inject a bit more optimism in my life. 🙂
I have had the same thoughts going through estate sales in my neighborhood. It’s sometimes sad that family members do not want what their loved ones had, and other times the sheer volume of stuff is overwhelming – I try to remember that for myself.
Sonrie- I also try to remember that. I guess Roberta’s has a point, hopefully the family got what was important and sentimental to them. As an aside, what I really get stressed about is all of the hand made stuff like needlepoint, handmade doilys and quilts that someone clearly spent so much time creating turning up at those sales.
I’ve been going through my stuff and weaning out the junk, the clutter and identifying things that should go to a loved one NOW. I agree with Kerry, as a needle pointer and the owner of several family quilts, it makes me sad that family members don’t cherish some of these things. I like to think that the cosmos will get them to their perfect match.
Pam, You do make lovely things, I still have the quilt you made Kayla (also used by Kelsey) and have kept it for their kiddos :).
Kerry,
Just wanted to let you know how much I love reading your blog. I started reading it cause I dug the idea of minimizing the stuff-factor in my life, but fell in love with it because you are seriously funny. I regularly break into real laughter (not the fake in-your-head laughs you do sometimes when reading something funny), to the point that when my husband hears it he says “are you reading THAT blog AGAIN?” I’m sad now that I’m caught up to the present posts and will not get to read pages at a time 🙂 Thanks for inspiring and fun writing.
Jeana- Thanks so much for the nice note. I am honored to be THAT blog. It is particularly nice to hear, since I was just discussing that in many ways I’ve kind of gotten on autopilot for the whole “not buying” piece, the hard part is sometimes taking the time to write. So I appreciate the encouragement.