Garage Sale: It All Goes
I think it must feel lovely for a snake to shed its’ skin, scale by itchy uncomfortable scale, as it remakes itself over and over. I felt a little like that snake today.
We have been selling our things this weekend at a garage sale that will be repeated until we leave our house with only suitcases. In less than a month we’ll move out of our house, keeping only what we can carry to Mexico with us. It sounds really drastic, doesn’t it? A radical purge of our lives that will leave us temporarily homeless and almost without possessions.
It feels fantastic.
It’s letting go of things makes me feel like that snake; I am shedding the solid pieces of our old by-the-books life to become freer and lighter, my new skin colorful and shiny.
Most of what we have isn’t worth much; we buy things second hand ourselves and a few scratches and dents don’t bother us. Selling it isn’t about making money, although we can use every dollar we can get. It’s also about finding new homes for our things instead of just throwing them in the trash. I don’t like to waste things and it makes me happy to send them to someone who genuinely wants them.
This morning a woman came in and bought a pile of tools: chainsaw, palm sander, air compressor with nail guns and stapler, saw horses, extension ladder, jig saw and a few more things. She explained that she had just gotten divorced and needed to buy her own tools and she couldn’t afford new. As a woman who loves to use power tools, I couldn’t stop grinning. I was proud of her for stepping up and taking care of herself, for beating all the men at the sale to those items that I had assumed would be bought by them. I was proud of her for shedding the past and moving forward in her new life, something so many of us struggle with.
It tricky getting rid of everything and starting over. There are things now and then that cause a pang of regret. My adorable pig shaped watering can…couldn’t I fit it in somewhere? No, and someone else will make more use of it here, so it goes. And when do you sell your beds? Your dishes?
One of the things we sold today was our large backyard trampoline and Rory cried when I told them (she has such a tender heart!) Then I showed the girls how much money they made from their things that sold and they were excited to put more out.
After we leave our house we’ll be relying on relatives and friends to let us stay with them until we fly to Mexico, our family living out of a few suitcases like vagabonds. That part may not be quite as liberating and comfortable, but it will give everyone time to say goodbye.
It isn’t the end, it’s just a new beginning, and it’s time to lighten up and get ready to fly.
