Saturday, May 25, 2013

Priceless

It was time to cut the fat. I don't consider myself a pack-rat, yet we have acquired.... and ruined quiet a bit of "stuff" over the years. Of course children don't help the cause, not only do they take pen to sofa, dining table and kitchen chairs, destroying perfectly good furniture  but  they are "stuff" magnets. Birthday party presents, not to mention favors, Halloween costumes, miss-matched shoes, happy meal "prizes", half used coloring books, art projects, stuffed friends, bikes and on and on and on. Long story short, since we are moving out of this house in a matter of weeks it was the perfect time to purge.

GARAGE SALE MANIA!!!

We hosted our first ever successful garage sale today. In years passed we have participated in half-hearted  events advertised only by a chicken scratched poster duck-taped to a fence up the block. This time, we meant business and took the extra step to post our sale on Craigslist. It paid off. We got rid of just about everything. I can't say that we are now rolling in green, but that wasn't the point, the point was to get the junk out of here. 

Oh the junk. The junk. The once beautifully cheerful colored Crate & Barrel kitchen chairs I picked out for our dream home in Denver, the house we purchased when expecting our first born. I poured over the catalog imagining my children picking out their favorite colored chair as their own special spot at the table. (I somehow didn't factor in that there would likely be fighting since two children would ultimately both  want their tush in the red chair, when we had only one of each color.) The chairs while still sturdy,were now  worn and tattered, scratched and chipped. We sold the set for $40.

The small wicker dresser from Pier One, which was on our wedding registry. I was only 24 when I selected those items, how was I to know what was practical and what would fall to pieces?  For years it held socks, swimsuits, towels and cats. Cats who shred the wicker in multiple places leaving it an unsightly mess. We sold it for $5 along with a matching rolling table.

The Ergo (baby carrier) which held my Julian close to my body for the first year of his life. I became an expert at strapping that sucker on with a squirmy infant in under 30 seconds. I walked the neighborhood, picked my son up from kindergarten and visited the Farmer's market while wearing my baby in that contraption. I sold it to a family today for $5.

The tiny baby clothes. The last ones, since I have given so many away to friends with baby boys. This was all that was left of my 3-18 month clothing. My children will no longer need clothes that are sized by months. Ever. They all went.

The black dress I purchased so very many years ago while visiting my friend Hilary in New York. I have no idea where I bought  it, but I wore it with her to sushi and a show. Hilary was chastising me the whole time saying that with my legs I should have worn something shorter. (Thank you sweetie!) I kept that dress all of these years because of the memory of our weekend. Today I sold it for $2.

I'm a nostalgic girl. What can I say? Parting with things can be hard. I realize that it's all just stuff, yet how can I forget that my grandfather bought that now scratched, nicked, paint stained kitchen table for our wedding?

As I sold off our belongings I realized that once again we are entering a new phase of our life. We no longer have a need for double strollers, bibs and high-chairs. The furniture we got for our wedding or even for our first home is now terribly worn and unattractive. It's time to move on. It's time to grow up and face what is next. But not without looking back for just a moment at what was once shiny and new, remembering how with each scratch, crayola mark and stain our family has become what it is today.  And that? It's priceless.


3 comments:

  1. This made me cry! I am overly hormonal right now, though... :). I never want to part with the tiny baby clothes!!!

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  2. I still have some of yoyr baby clothes. Can't part with them. Beautiful blog post!

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  3. No guilt about selling the baby clothes...good for you for letting things go and cleaning out! Feels great

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