Mom Memory of the Day:
My Mother loved few activities more than going to garage sales. Many the Saturday morning was spent rousting me (often grumbling) out of bed and hurrying us to the car to meet up with one of my Mom's best friends, Paula.
Hours would be spent in the pursuit of good bargains that someone was overlooking, with Mom or Paula driving like a mad woman and doing u-turns in the middle of the street if we passed a sale by accident somehow.
"Look Paula, look," I can hear in my memory, "We missed one, turn around, turn around!"
Wheels screeching as I grabbed the "please God- don't let me die" handle in the backseat.
Mom would look back, "Don't tell your father about that turn."
Sometimes we found good deals, sometimes...not so much. But there was always much laughter, frolic, fun and scary driving.
One Saturday...we're driving on Cartmill in Visalia (a town I spent my younger years in before we moved to Tulare)....when Mom's eagle eyes spot someone setting items out on the lawn.
"Yard Sale, yard sale!" came the alert.
Paula whipped the car around and pulled up to the curb, and two women hurried from the car in excitement. I was slower getting out...something wasn't right....
"Oh Eileen, look at this lamp! You NEED this lamp for the hall table!"
"Paula, look! An elephant, do you have one like this? It's a candy dish!"
A man in sweat shorts and a t-shirt comes out of the garage with a baffled look...
"Umm...ladies...." he tried to begin.
"How much for this?!" They both chirped, holding up finds.
I had a sinking feeling...
"Look gals, I'm not having a yard sale, I'm just trying to clean my garage!"
Mom and Paula looked at each other. This was a new one on them.
A moment of quizzical silence.... Other cars were slowing down and beginning to park. More bargain hunters were on the way.
Mom asked, "Do you want to sell any of it?"
The man just looked at them as if they were crazy (and they were)...when his wife walked outside.
"$5 bucks for the lamp, $3 for the elephant!" she announced.
"SOLD!" said two happy women in unison. I sighed.
We left that "garage sale" with four bags of "finds".....and a great story.
-Beth Haynes Butler
My Mother loved few activities more than going to garage sales. Many the Saturday morning was spent rousting me (often grumbling) out of bed and hurrying us to the car to meet up with one of my Mom's best friends, Paula.
Hours would be spent in the pursuit of good bargains that someone was overlooking, with Mom or Paula driving like a mad woman and doing u-turns in the middle of the street if we passed a sale by accident somehow.
"Look Paula, look," I can hear in my memory, "We missed one, turn around, turn around!"
Wheels screeching as I grabbed the "please God- don't let me die" handle in the backseat.
Mom would look back, "Don't tell your father about that turn."
Sometimes we found good deals, sometimes...not so much. But there was always much laughter, frolic, fun and scary driving.
One Saturday...we're driving on Cartmill in Visalia (a town I spent my younger years in before we moved to Tulare)....when Mom's eagle eyes spot someone setting items out on the lawn.
"Yard Sale, yard sale!" came the alert.
Paula whipped the car around and pulled up to the curb, and two women hurried from the car in excitement. I was slower getting out...something wasn't right....
"Oh Eileen, look at this lamp! You NEED this lamp for the hall table!"
"Paula, look! An elephant, do you have one like this? It's a candy dish!"
A man in sweat shorts and a t-shirt comes out of the garage with a baffled look...
"Umm...ladies...." he tried to begin.
"How much for this?!" They both chirped, holding up finds.
I had a sinking feeling...
"Look gals, I'm not having a yard sale, I'm just trying to clean my garage!"
Mom and Paula looked at each other. This was a new one on them.
A moment of quizzical silence.... Other cars were slowing down and beginning to park. More bargain hunters were on the way.
Mom asked, "Do you want to sell any of it?"
The man just looked at them as if they were crazy (and they were)...when his wife walked outside.
"$5 bucks for the lamp, $3 for the elephant!" she announced.
"SOLD!" said two happy women in unison. I sighed.
We left that "garage sale" with four bags of "finds".....and a great story.
-Beth Haynes Butler
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