Memories Stuff Sold Here

The yard sale was a smashing success. We made about $500.00 ($600.00 total but we sold some stuff for my neighbor and my sister) and that will be enough to cover the three nights in our hotel and gas to and from the beach. Once we get back from the beach we're going to sell the rest of the stuff on EBay and hopefully make a nice little chunk of change.

Yard sales certainly bring out all types of people. Our's was definitely an expecting parent's dream but unforunately the majority of those who came were looking for items non-baby related and were sorely disappointed. The few preggers and soon-to-be-grandparents who did make their way to our yard sale left the sale very, very happy because not only did we have a ton of stuff, we had a ton of nice and barely-used stuff. As you can see from the pictures above, the husband and I worked hard to display everything prominently and neatly hoping that would help us make sells.

That said, I live in Redneckville, South Carolina, where people put signs on their houses to proclaim their dislike for neighbors and nary a person bought any of the like-new, neatly hung, name brand clothing for $1-2. Most people went straight to the random boxes of stained and worn out mismatched pieces that we were selling for quarters.

I had an entire table of breastfeeding pumps, accessories, playtex nursers, breastfeeding books (The Nursing Mother's Companion and Dr. Sear's The Breastfeeding Book), storage bottles, storage bags, spare parts, and Medela steam bags. I honestly didn't think I would sell any of the breastfeeding stuff since I live in the Formula Capitol of the World but around 10:00 an expecting mama showed up and squealed with delight over all the breastfeeding stuff. She pulled me to the side to reveal to me that she is only 20 weeks and her breasts are leaking AND she wants to breastfeed until her child is at least two (what is it about being pregnant and/or female that makes you disclose information like leaky breasts and the size of their child's explosive poops to all the world?) She bought all the breastfeeding stuff up.

I thought I would be said to see all of our memories being carried off like that. I'm not and it feels weird.

I'm usually a sentimental sap about everything. I have a Hardee's Chicken Fillet wrapper that my best friend, Sarah, and I signed when we were in the 8th grade in a scrapbook upstairs. I have every card ever given to me since I was 10. I have empty packs of cigarettes leftover after a wild and crazy night in Morgantown stuffed inside of a shoebox under my bed. I have diaries, notes, letters, pictures, matchbooks with telephone numbers, gifts, flowers, leaves, blades of grass, and everything in between either given to me or saved because they all remind me of something or someone.

I did save some of the kids' stuff but not a lot. I just don't feel the desire to hold on to everything. I guess because when I was younger, I knew moments were fleeting. I knew a matchbook with a telephone number in it wouldn't always mean so much as it did when I was 21. I knew a validation of friendship inside of a sandwich wrapper wouldn't always be something I wanted or needed. I knew staying out until midnight on the golf course with my boyfriend while my parents slept wouldn't always be wild and fun so I needed a blade of grass from that night to remind me.

Don't get me wrong, I know my babies will grow up entirely too fast but I have them and that is all I need. The stuff doesn't mean a lot. They do. They're always going to mean the world and I don't need anything to remind me.

It's much less about the imprint their stuff leaves in the carpet and much more about the imprint that Gavin and Grace leave on my heart.

Well that and can I get a "hell yeah" that I can walk through my bedroom and Grace's room without climbing over 16,000 piles of toys and clothes!!!