Day 14 - Assorted Junk (Throw, Give, and Sell)

I never know what to think about garage sales.  Melissa took several big tubs full of hot wheels cars, baby dolls, and books to a big indoor garage sale today.  It's a pretty good deal.  Each seller has to make sure each item is clearly marked with a removable price tag and then you can just drop your stuff off, the organizers sell it and then give you about 75% of the profits.  Nice and easy.

But here's what I don't like about garage sales ... well, here's the basic thing I don't like about garage sales (there are lots of little things to hate about garage sales):  for me, it's always one of those "damned if you do and damned if you don't" scenarios.  If I put something in a garage sale and it sells, I often feel guilty.  "I can't believe you just gave me cash for this object I have obviously deemed worthless and unnecessary!  Sucker!"  But if I put something in a garage sale and it doesn't sell, I get defensive.  "What?  The stuff that I spent my hard earned money on isn't good enough for you?  Even though I'm offering it for a fifth of what I paid for it?  Snob!" 



After lunch I started sorting through a box of items mostly from our Pensacola days.  I did a pretty good job of moving quickly through the contents - considering it's been five years since I've looked through these things. 



See? ... goofy!



Here are some of the contents and their fates:  Old daytimers - thrown away, even though I wanted to flip pages and see what was occupying my days 9 years ago.  Some picture frames - to be given away, maybe to Goodwill, even though some were gifts from close friends.  A floating pen souvenir from the coolest laser tag arena I've ever been to - thrown away, even though it pained me.  (It was a place in Saudi Arabia which was just incredible.)  Photographs - about half were kept and the other half lingered over briefly before being thrown.  A FishForce baseball cap - kept, even though I look goofy in hats.  I had forgotten all about it, but now that I've rediscovered it, I'm just not ready to part with it!  (Afterall, I was the one who designed the FishForce logo.)  A Kermit the Frog keychain - to be given to Melissa for her kindergarten prize box.  A traveling communion set (!) - not sure what to do with this yet.  Know anybody who needs one?? 

I keep wondering what Melissa and I will do with the leftover stuff that we want to keep but we can't take with us to Haiti.  Pay for indefinite storage in some warehouse or see if we can claim a corner of some relative's basement?  It's hard to predict, but I'm sure some plan will be necessary.  If for no other reason than for things like the paper I found in the bottom of this box today.  It was a print out of the email my oldest brother, Ryan, sent out to extended family members and friends when Dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  The note covered the diagnosis, the futility of pursuing any sort of aggressive treatment, and the prognosis ... and it ended with the announcement of the birth of our first daughter.  I can't bring myself to toss something like that into the recycle bin.