we wrapped up the annual garage sale today. needless to say, traffic wasn't quite what we expected today. friends mike and nay showed up with their stuff today, and little one was a GREAT salesperson helping mike sell his hot wheels collection and his grown daughter's my little pony cast offs. we just weren't very successful selling the rest of the household goods that we thought would be snapped up so quickly. we kept telling everyone to disregard the price tags and just negotiate with us, we were very flexible. and everyone (but me) was very lubricated. it was tradition. it was BLOODY MARY SUNDAY! and, being the non drinker in the bunch, i don't know how i got just as silly as the rest of them. but we had a good time. the jokes and laughs were flowing, all the lookie-loos were having a good time seeing that we were having a good time, they just weren't buying.
but i did get a few nibbles. what seemed to sell best was little one's outgrown books. we were going to donate them, but we thought we'd try to sell some first, and try to make any pocket change we could. we started out with three book boxes filled, and ended up with one book box barely half full. i was making deals left and right, because books are wonderful things, and shouldn't be neglected. i was charging rock bottom prices for books i had picked up while traveling the world. i just wanted to make sure they went to good homes. and to see that the children were happy when they got a new book? that was all the reward i really needed. and with one family, that's really all i got.
it was a rather large family, and they had a strategy. we've seen this strategy employed before, so we were on our toes. they bring a bunch of kids, get everyone pulling everything out of boxes, off shelves, unfold everything, have everyone running here and there, ask so many questions that you forget what they're getting. we had three families selling at this garage sale. we had three families setting prices. we had three different people to consult when they asked, "how much?" and we frustrated them MORE than they frustrated us, because we'd have to relay the question to the proper person, and we were moving around, watching them, making sure nothing wasn't where it wasn't supposed to be, and that every nickle was accounted for. it was rather humorous to watch these women try to work us, and not know we were working them right back. but it just about broke my heart when the two older girls got some toys and books, and the younger boy that was with them was completely ignored. we didn't have much, as far as boys toys, but i wasn't going to have his sisters get all the attention and have him not get ANYTHING. so, they're totaling up their purchases, and darned if they didn't try to short mike, tim and me (didn't see that one coming, did you?) we all got the correct amounts, finally and they were leaving. i grabbed two small books out of the book box and went up to the little boy and gave them to him. he gave me a quizzical look, and i just said, "these are for you, from me." he smiled and said thank you. he hugged them to his chest and skipped down the street to join his sisters. i was happy to let them go, knowing i had just made him happy.
i'll have to admit, that was one of the high points of the day. the other was meeting rodrigo, a very nice young man, maybe 10, who had just come from church. he was in his suit and tie, and was just looking around. our friend chrissy chatted with him for a moment and asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up. he said he wanted to be a lawyer. well, we were very impressed. he was a very composed, charismatic young man. and very, very polite. he said he was waiting for his mother, she was at another house looking at something. chrissy gave him a decorator plate to give her as a present. he said thank you, and that she would like that. we just smiled as he waved and walked away. we had met a few very nice young men that day. and it wasn't like we were giving away national treasures. we were giving away our castoffs. but these two young men felt honored. and we felt good about ourselves, because we were doing something for someone else. chrissy was doing something so rodrigo could give his mother a nice gift, and i was doing something so that a little boy wouldn't feel neglected by his family.
and on a day that is usually a bit of a downer, we just smiled at each other and realized that it is the little things like that that help us get by in this world. rodrigo's mother is going to cherish her gift, and think her son is a wonderful boy for thinking of her. and my little guy is going to feel a little more empowered because someone thought of him before his sisters. and he got the gift of books. and books are wonderful things.
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