IS THIS SOMETHING YOU COULD PART WITH, KATHY?

Over the weekend my P.E.O. chapter sponsored its annual rummage sale. This year I cleaned out and donated more than I ever thought I would. If the item was taking up space on a shelf and hadn’t been used for some years, I asked myself the “Pickers” question: “Is this something you could part with, Kathy?”

I still like new things. Life goes on, and I have realized that clinging to the past weighs against my ability to move forward. So this year I parted with some things I treasured, some things I still love. For instance, I donated the domed cheese keeper and a bell-shaped plate from my Pfaltzgraff Christmas Heritage collection. I had to admit that these odd-shaped items were never used and taking up more than their fair share of the shelf. I was amply rewarded by the delight of another Pfaltzgraff collector, someone who entertains during the holidays and was overjoyed to have these pieces.

We also donated a white wicker chair and end table. Mike said he couldn’t remember when his family didn’t have them. I used them in the master bathroom and loved the retro look, but Mike didn’t. He pointed out that they were old and in sad shape, the paint chipping badly. “But people seek these things because they are old,” I said. “If I take those to the rummage sale, they’ll be gone in a flash.” "Are you serious?!” he questioned. And sure enough! They were gone first thing when the sale opened on Saturday but to different buyers. After three quarters of a century together, the table and chair have gone their separate ways.

Another item I donated – an antique frame with convex glass. My mother had envisioned using the frame for a certain old poster. “I just can’t figure out how to do it,” she said, and as the years since her passing slip by, I realized if she couldn’t figure out how to accomplish her idea, I certainly couldn’t, and yet I was carefully preserving the glass in a precarious place on the shelf where I’d rather keep my yarn and fabric stash. So the frame went to the rummage sale and was carried off by a happy young woman. And for me – no more worries that I will accidently break the glass while shoving boxes this way and that.  

 

And sometimes you can’t win for losing in your battle to reduce and the dissent comes from unexpected places. Daughter Hallie, the minimalist, was examining some photos of the rummage sale set-up that I forwarded to her. “Mom, are those your wooden thread spools in that picture? You get those back! They don’t make those any more.” And Mike agreed with her! So, the wooden spools are in the box, ready to go back to the farm. KW