The Keeper

Michael keeps telling me he thinks we have enough "stuff" to have a garage sale.  I have pushed the idea aside for several reasons.  First, I really didn't think we had enough items to make it worthwhile. But mainly, garage sales are a lot of work!  You have to go through the house completely and decide what you are going to keep and what goes.  You have to price everything...set up for it... and spend the day waiting for people to come buy what you no longer need.  I have not done well with garage sales historically.  I think I remember making $25.00 at the first and last one I had about 20 years ago.  

So you can understand why I was hesitant.

As Michael ticked off a list of things we could get rid of (his camping equipment tops on the list) I finally agreed, but told Michael we had to be willing to get rid of some things to make it worthwhile.  I told him this would mean going through the whole house to make sure we made good use of this garage sale.  I also told him it would require a lot of prep work, and we would need to set aside time to get ready for it.  I suggested that if we had not used something for a couple of years, it really needed to find a new home. 

He was all in.  

We picked a weekend for the sale, left a free weekend the week before to make sure we had enough time to prepare, and today begins our garage sale!

After Michael's suggestion of having one, I decided to strike while the iron was hot, so we immediately headed to the basement.  I'm not sure Michael really planned to start digging through the basement at 7:00 at night, but he was on board!

We did find quite a few things right away that we knew we could put on the sale.  As we went through boxes we started to put the items to sell in one corner of the basement and to my surprise it was accumulating pretty quickly, not hoarder quickly, but enough to reassure me that we did have enough to warrant a garage sale.  

While going through one shelving unit I pointed to the very top shelf and said, "What about your train?"  

Michael got a toy train about 5 years ago.  He has loved trains since he was a little boy.  At one time he had an engineer outfit complete with hat and striped overalls and his Dad called him "Boxcar Morris."  He and his parents used to ride a train on occasion too so he not only played with toy trains, but got to experience riding in them.  His love for trains has not waned one bit over the years.  We have gone to see a steam engine, taken a ride on the Boone Scenic Railway Train (several times), and taken a ride on a scenic train in Duluth.

The toy train he has now was out of the box the first Christmas he had it.  We put it under the tree and it was a lot of fun to turn it on in the evening and watch it circle the base of the tree.  It seemed to bring the tree to life, but it has not made an appearance since then.  Each year when I ask if he is going to bring up the train up he thinks about it and then says, "No."  

It has been on that top shelf ever since.

I went on to look through another area of the basement and when I came around the corner I saw Michael sitting at his desk.  He had taken the train off the shelf and was looking at it quietly.  In that instant I could see Michael at age 6 or 7, admiring a new toy train - just in awe, and I knew this was going to be a tough decision for him.  

I walked back the way I had come, so he didn't see me, but about 10 minutes later as I walked by he was still holding the train and quietly said, "I'm going to keep my train."  

I couldn't help but smile.  

He sounded like a little boy who has been asked if he would give up his favorite toy.

So there will be no toy train at our garage sale, but at Christmas it will be circling the base of the tree once again. 

And I will love seeing the twinkle in his eyes as he watches it.