A Mother's Love
It has been a crazy summer already and it won't end without being a memorable one. It doesn't seem so far like it has been full of those normal summer things like swimming and sleeping late and vacations, rather packing and cleaning and planning and more packing. This particular upcoming move is like no other, and with good reason. I've never moved a family of nine before. I've never moved from a big house to a small house. I've never managed a family and a household and a big transition and a second home at the same time! Lots of firsts here!!
Moving must be much like labor. In the heat of it all, it makes sense to think: "I never want to do this again!! It's much too hard!" After labor, it typically takes me all of 30 seconds of holding a baby to forget the pain and effort and enjoy the precious little bundle in my arms and decide that I could definitely do it again! Well, right now, I very much feel like when this move is over, I NEVER EVER want to move again for the rest of my life! It is no easy task, that's for sure!
Downsizing requires purging a bit. We decided that it would be beneficial to have a garage sale in town at the new house to make room for the things we wish to keep, so for weeks, we've been packing and moving all of the things that we didn't plan to keep. Over the weekend, we executed a garage sale in some of the hottest temperatures we have seen all summer! Tim was traveling for work and due to severe weather on the coast, his flight home was cancelled resulting in a solo effort to prepare and carry out the sale. I can't say that I was thrilled about the circumstances, but changing my mind on the sale didn't really seem an option, so the kids and I plugged away getting everything prepared in his absence and left a few bigger things to be sold at a later date.
Garage sales are no easy undertaking! I have a new appreciation for all those brave people who have them!! In true garage sale fashion, our first "customer" arrived 3 hours and 45 minutes before we "opened". I think we had 50 people stop before our official start time. Thank goodness for my very special friends who made signs and distributed them and helped me price many things. Jakob was gone for football camp in the mornings, so I felt short-handed already. It was a bit emotional to set out so many things that I was attached to for someone else to offer pennies for and not even care about the story behind them. I was beginning to wonder just how I was going to manage this feat! While things were far from out of control, I knew I would need to suck it up and ask for help from friends for things as basic as lunch or providing reprieve for my littles...AND THEN...
this woman walked up the driveway as the heat was approaching 100 degrees in the shade and asked, "Ma'am, how much for this?" Of course not everything was marked with a price yet, so as I attempted to be discreet in quickly thinking of something that seemed fair, I paused, looked at the item she was holding and then finally looked up, ready to answer--my MOM! She left her house at 4:30 in the morning to come help me. She had wanted to all along, but was helping my dad in the hay field, which is a very time-sensitive harvest and wasn't going to be able to get away.
I can't begin to explain how thrilled I was to see my mom. Mother's just have that way of bringing peace and calming anxiety. It was as if simply seeing her standing there reassured me that everything was going to be just fine now! It was indeed fine. At forty, I still need my mother! She is an expreienced garage-saler and knew that I was taking on an intense weekend, and unexpectedly by myself to boot! I recognize the sacrifice that was involved in her coming to my rescue, and I can't begin to express my gratitude!
In hind-sight, I really wish that I would have captured some pictures of the magnitude of stuff that we started with and the progress that we made each of the three sale days. What started out filling the garage from wall to wall, a portion of the back yard and front lawn, and two rooms of the house dwindled to a meager amount of left-overs. Three LONG days and very short nights. The kids took turns selling lemonade, water and cookies, practicing some math in the summer, and we all were entertained by garage sale behaviors from the bargain-buyers request to take $.50 instead of $5.00 to the piece of furniture that sat unnoticed for two days and then for some unexplainable reason attracted several lookers in the same hour and generated unspoken competitiveness, to the disgruntled gentleman who expressed that I was crazy to think I could get a particular amount for something to the lady who bought that something for what it was marked without batting an eyelash!
I also realize while composing this post that I don't have many picutes of my mom and I together. Not from the weekend, and not in the past 6 years!! Something must be done about that!! :)
The sale was a success. The weekend was unbelievably hot and humid. The schedule was on the crazy side, especially with the need to return to our current residence each day for something, but all was pleasant and enjoyable and memorable because of my mother's love. Thank you mom!! Your generous heart is such a good one! I thoroughly enjoyed my entire weekend with you! (And thank you dad, because I know you had to give her up for me!) I love you both very, very much, and I totally still need you!
Moving must be much like labor. In the heat of it all, it makes sense to think: "I never want to do this again!! It's much too hard!" After labor, it typically takes me all of 30 seconds of holding a baby to forget the pain and effort and enjoy the precious little bundle in my arms and decide that I could definitely do it again! Well, right now, I very much feel like when this move is over, I NEVER EVER want to move again for the rest of my life! It is no easy task, that's for sure!
Downsizing requires purging a bit. We decided that it would be beneficial to have a garage sale in town at the new house to make room for the things we wish to keep, so for weeks, we've been packing and moving all of the things that we didn't plan to keep. Over the weekend, we executed a garage sale in some of the hottest temperatures we have seen all summer! Tim was traveling for work and due to severe weather on the coast, his flight home was cancelled resulting in a solo effort to prepare and carry out the sale. I can't say that I was thrilled about the circumstances, but changing my mind on the sale didn't really seem an option, so the kids and I plugged away getting everything prepared in his absence and left a few bigger things to be sold at a later date.
Garage sales are no easy undertaking! I have a new appreciation for all those brave people who have them!! In true garage sale fashion, our first "customer" arrived 3 hours and 45 minutes before we "opened". I think we had 50 people stop before our official start time. Thank goodness for my very special friends who made signs and distributed them and helped me price many things. Jakob was gone for football camp in the mornings, so I felt short-handed already. It was a bit emotional to set out so many things that I was attached to for someone else to offer pennies for and not even care about the story behind them. I was beginning to wonder just how I was going to manage this feat! While things were far from out of control, I knew I would need to suck it up and ask for help from friends for things as basic as lunch or providing reprieve for my littles...AND THEN...
this woman walked up the driveway as the heat was approaching 100 degrees in the shade and asked, "Ma'am, how much for this?" Of course not everything was marked with a price yet, so as I attempted to be discreet in quickly thinking of something that seemed fair, I paused, looked at the item she was holding and then finally looked up, ready to answer--my MOM! She left her house at 4:30 in the morning to come help me. She had wanted to all along, but was helping my dad in the hay field, which is a very time-sensitive harvest and wasn't going to be able to get away.
I can't begin to explain how thrilled I was to see my mom. Mother's just have that way of bringing peace and calming anxiety. It was as if simply seeing her standing there reassured me that everything was going to be just fine now! It was indeed fine. At forty, I still need my mother! She is an expreienced garage-saler and knew that I was taking on an intense weekend, and unexpectedly by myself to boot! I recognize the sacrifice that was involved in her coming to my rescue, and I can't begin to express my gratitude!
In hind-sight, I really wish that I would have captured some pictures of the magnitude of stuff that we started with and the progress that we made each of the three sale days. What started out filling the garage from wall to wall, a portion of the back yard and front lawn, and two rooms of the house dwindled to a meager amount of left-overs. Three LONG days and very short nights. The kids took turns selling lemonade, water and cookies, practicing some math in the summer, and we all were entertained by garage sale behaviors from the bargain-buyers request to take $.50 instead of $5.00 to the piece of furniture that sat unnoticed for two days and then for some unexplainable reason attracted several lookers in the same hour and generated unspoken competitiveness, to the disgruntled gentleman who expressed that I was crazy to think I could get a particular amount for something to the lady who bought that something for what it was marked without batting an eyelash!
I also realize while composing this post that I don't have many picutes of my mom and I together. Not from the weekend, and not in the past 6 years!! Something must be done about that!! :)
This is totally probably my sister and not me!! Maybe. :)
The sale was a success. The weekend was unbelievably hot and humid. The schedule was on the crazy side, especially with the need to return to our current residence each day for something, but all was pleasant and enjoyable and memorable because of my mother's love. Thank you mom!! Your generous heart is such a good one! I thoroughly enjoyed my entire weekend with you! (And thank you dad, because I know you had to give her up for me!) I love you both very, very much, and I totally still need you!
