Trash vs. Treasure in These Foolish Things

Guys, prepping for a garage sale is NOT. FUN. AT. ALL.

I’m really glad I went did that yesterday because there’s no way my parents would have been able to pull all that together. The only thing that had been done in their garage was that mom and dad and my bro’s family had piled a bunch of crap that they wanted to sell into a big mound in a corner of the garage.

The rest of the garage was a trash pit mostly consisting of debris from mom and dad’s renovation of what is now their little…what’s it called? Granny apartment? Granny flat? Regardless, it was an absolute mess and it was essentially up to my SIL and myself to put it all together because my mom is useless at this point (I’m not complaining - that’s just the way it is), and I ordered my dad not to lift anything (he’s falling down and stuff) and my brother was at work.

I also knew if I left things up to my SIL, things would never, ever, EVER get done. I love her and I’m so glad she’s around, but she is as disorganized as my brother and had zero idea where to even start.

So I did the only thing I knew to do. I sprang into action. I had it in my mind that my SIL and I were going to get this motherfucker set up before 4pm, and that took some very heavy lifting and a LOT of direction to our small team. I felt like the project lead AND the worker bee AND the product merchandiser! I literally had to tell my SIL how to set up tables, where things should go, how to merchandise the junk, and how to price the damn stuff.

Mom and Dad watched. That’s the way I wanted it.

By the time we were done, I was dripping sweat and everyone was thanking me profusely. It was a massive undertaking and I even impressed myself. The whole thing was set up so that all mom and dad had to do this morning was just raise their garage door and voila!

I called them a little while ago to see how Day 1 went, and it sounds like it went quite well for a Thursday. There are two more days left of this neighborhood sale and I’m debating whether or not I should go back out on Saturday to help finish this thing and get the garage pristine.

I don’t want to, but I know that they appreciated the set-up so much. We’ll see.

I have a late night tomorrow night (friend’s birthday party starting with drinks one place and then venturing to a late dinner at a fancy steakhouse - meh - not into the steakhouse, but I would love to have a fun night out). Maybe I’ll set my alarm early and see how I feel about going to clean up a garage.

Still working behind the scenes on this job thing. I expect to have some things to report soon.

But I have also been thinking about that time nearly 15 years ago when I was in this same spot - unemployed and getting super antsy about getting back to work. I was writing in OD a lot during that time, so I pulled out my archives and started reading last night.

Man, oh man. I was quite a wild one back in my early 40s. And when I say wild, I mean something beyond just having a good time. I was probably feeling quite out of control. There was the major breakup with a fiance just eight short weeks before the wedding, the loss of a rockstar job, and trying to date as much as I could - I guess to take my mind off of things. Girl’s gotta eat, ya know!

Yep. Out of control.

It’s no wonder my health has caught up with me in recent years.

But, oh those memories came flooding back. I’m in the middle of reading the days and nights between 2008 and mid-2010. It took me a while to find those pages, but when I did…

It sure is entertaining if not heartbreaking to read. I found myself getting very teary-eyed at one point and laughing out loud a few minutes later. I’m going to see if I can find some juicy quotes to post here, but I need to go to bed now.

I had trouble sleeping last night. Maybe I was just too tired from cleaning and setting up the garage? I was still wide awake at 2am and my mind was racing.

Now I’m exhausted. I may read a little bit more in hopes I fall asleep soon.

So much,
GS