Out of the Comfort Zone

This morning I served as a very tiny speck in the large organism with many moving parts which is the River Hill High School Indoor Yard Sale. My word, it was amazing. Room after room, tables down hallways and even in the Media Center. Food and drink and bake sale items. (Not in the Media Center.)

My husband was with the students in the GSA who were having a bake sale. I was holding down the choir table. I had an unusual assortment of donated items which I decided pretty quickly were all going to go for a dollar each. Except for that big box of maracas from Mexico. They were two for a dollar, because, for Heaven’s sake, you can’t just have one.

I watched an enormous old school bouncy rocking horse in excellent condition get carried in to be sold. About ten minutes later I saw its new owner carry it out. A little girl who belonged to the table across the way bought my pink ukulele for a dollar. I went over to her dad to make sure he knew it was more of a decorative piece than the real thing. He was cool with that, but he thanked me for looking out for her.

An older woman looked at a pair of men’s shoes that I had. They looked to be new in the original box. She bought them. I said, “Those look pretty nice. I’m glad they found a good home.”

“They’re for Haiti,” she said, putting them in the shopping bag she had brought with her. I was glad they cost her only a dollar.

A married couple came by and looked through the DVDs and Wii games I had. We reminisced over old movies and tv shows. I can’t remember if they bought anything but they were really nice, and funny, too. Another discerning dad happily cleaned out all my Phineas and Ferb items.

Yes. yes, he did.

Many people looked at a particularly nice ladies’ black jacket but didn’t buy it. It was lovely, but too small for anybody.

One woman suggested that I open up a child’s puppy sleeping bag because it was cute and more likely to sell that way. I did what she suggested but I’m sad to report that it hadn’t sold by the time I left.

After a while I began to feel that the world was nothing more than an exchange of brightly colored Duplo bins between unrelated parties. So much stuff. Stuff we don’t want or need any more. Stuff we don’t have but imagine we need to have. Stuff that tempts us. I marveled when I heard one woman explain that she had come to the conclusion that her daughter doesn’t really like dolls. At the front of her display was a shelf with approximately thirty of the same kind of doll in different permutations. It took that many before she realized?

Well, perhaps I should look at my craft stash at all the remnants of crafts begun and left behind before I pass judgement...

I’m not so fond of doing things I’ve never done before with people I don’t know too well. And I don’t think I did anything impressive in the money raising department. But I got better at smiling hopefully and making eye contact and making small talk as the time went by. And I did a lot of people watching. That may have been the best part.

Proceeds from the entire event will go to support the River Hill High School Music Programs. The Music Boosters who ran the thing have my respect and admiration.

How was your Saturday?