Garage/Moving Sales

A few thoughts and stories from this weekend .....

1.  People watching at garage sales is facinating!  More on this later.

2.  When you say a sale starts on a specific day and people come while you are setting up the night before ... After being in a car for 11 hours is ....... Annoying.

3.  They are just plain exhausting.

4.  There are "professional garage salers".  They come back multiple times and know who to go to in order to get a deal.  There is always one "week link" in the group!  Haha ... Guess whose ours was? I will never tell.

5.  I'm amazed at what people will buy.

A couple of stories:

We had a TON of quilting and sewing stuff.  Bin and bins full.  It only takes the right person.  A lady who is part of a quilting group came by and bought a LOT of stuff and was so excited, including my moms sewing table, desk, etc.  that we haven't even brought out of the house yet.  Another lady came who sews came by and bought a bunch of sewing bins .. And bins ... And, you get the point of how much my mom had!  But they were both sooo excited to get it all and we are happy that someone else can use it, and loved what my mom did.  I'm sure she is thrilled.

Francis and Francis .... Are two ladies I met early on day one.  Mother and daughter, and yes, they are both names Francis.  They came back four times over the weekend!  Hilarious!  Well they became my friends.  Come to find out, the mom use to live one street over from where I grew up.  I'm sure they love each other, but they sure picked at each other a lot!  Big Francis told me numerous times that she is a spiritual woman and how good God has been to her.  However, she doesn't mess with people who do bad things, has never fallen in 85 years, gives her granddaughters whatever they ask for, and told me what a great mom I would be!  All this while Little Francis would roll her eyes behind her mom! And tease her mercilessly. They also bought a few things on each visit.

Last one ... a lady told my brother her story.  She almost lost her house and in the process sold all of her things in it.  She ended up not losing it, but now has to re-fill it, so was going to a bunch of garage sales.  Once the story had circulated our family, discounts began.  Mom would have loved that.

We were able to donate what didn't sell, and after a few dumpster runs, everything is gone but what dad needs till the house sells.  I kept thinking how hard it must have been for him to watch this happen, but he did great, and my brother and fam and I did our best to love on him in the process.

NO, the dog is not for sale!

Surviving vs Thriving

One of my favorite moments this summer was driving back to Ohio from PA with my 11 year old nephew.  My car was packed to the gills with things from my parents home.  So Deacon had to sit in the seat with luggage at his feet.  Poor dude had no room for 8 hours!

While driving we sang along to the radio.  I noticed after awhile that he knew every Christian song that came on.  He says, "well Aunt Lori, I DO listen to music", when I asked him how he knew all of them.  After a conversation of country music, which he had very astute observations about, we went back to singing worship songs.

Singing loud and not caring, I belted out a few lines of the song about how we were made to thrive, not just survive.  Well, I thought it was,  "we were made to FLY" and so I sang that loud and proud!  Being his ever so kind and gracious self, Deacon corrected me .... After, of course laughing at me!  "I think it's suppose to be thrive Aunt Lo".  We had a good laugh, decided thrive and fly were similar and kept on singing.

Which brings me to my blogging point though.  I have been thinking a lot now about surviving vs thriving and what that looks like, especially after difficult times.  I've mentioned a few times about what a very difficult time the last 2 years now have been.  While still working through the "tunnel", I at least see the light at the end now.  It has been a time of surviving a day at a time.

One of the definitions of survive is:  to continue to exist.  At times, all we CAN do, is exist.  Life has thrown us/me some "breaking balls" (instead of curve balls!) - yes, my sport analogy, and I have struck out a lot lately.  Sometimes it's all we can do to get up each day and just survive until,we can go to bed and shut it all out ... Only to begin again the next day.  However, somehow the fact that we get up the next day is victory in itself.  God, in his graciousness and often without us acknowledging it at the time, gives us the strength we need for each day.  But after while surviving isn't enough.  It'
s sad, lonely and unfulfilling.    God wants us to thrive ...

To thrive is to grow or flourish ... Succeed, often in spite of circumstances.  To progress or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances.  During these times we are to grow.  Apart from the grace of God and the love and support of friends, I don't know how we do that.  Often I don't even see the growth but have to rely on those friends walking with me, to point it out, until I can see through the darkness myself.

So what is the goal that I am to be progressing towards? Become more like Jesus ... Love him more ... Love others more ... depend, trust and have faith in God ... I'm sure there are more.  In the midst of losing my mom, back surgery, changes in work setting, walking through difficult times with a friend, packing a house full of memories ... Etc.  I'd like to think I am finally starting to thrive some.

Or maybe even FLY eventually!

Definition of a home

The definition of "home", is "one's place of residence, the social unit formed by a family living together, a familiar or usual setting, focus of one's domestic attention;  also a place where you are comfortable or relaxed".

The definition of "house", is "a building that serves as living quarters for a family, a building in which something is housed, a shelter or refuge for wild animals".

I have been thinking a lot about "home" this summer.  I have lived in so many places over the years that it seems like all of those places can't be called home.  Until coming to Ohio, whenever I said I was going home, it referred to where I grew up, where my parents house now is, in PA.  Most of those other places, according to the definitions above, were just "houses"... A place where I lived at the time.

That home in PA is where all of those family memories are/were ... There was always a sense of security in the fact that I could always go "home".  Now that mom has passed away, it has no longer felt like home.  It's just been a place where dad lives for now.  It has felt more like a "house".  As we packed up the house this summer I had this panicked thought of, "I no longer have a home to go to".  Well that's really not true.

Sure, we make our houses, homes, by decorating them, doing life, making memories, socializing, etc.  but they are still just houses.  Homes are places where we feel relaxed, safe and comfortable, where our friends and family are.  What makes our houses "homes"?

Family
Friends
A familiar place
Where we feel safe
Where we can relax and be ourselves

Home is people, houses are memories.