Mama loved a good garage sale.
“You can get quality things at a good price – or you can get some real junk!”
My parents got married in England during World War II. Mama said they started married life with very little money and their house was furnished in mid-century American garage sale.
Each of my siblings had a trunk that our next-door neighbor had given us and mama insisted we fill it with things that we liked, treasures from garage sales. Mama said the trunk would be our dowry.
“Pick things YOU like or you will be doomed to only having things your spouse likes.” Her advice was tinged with menace.
When I finally dragged that trunk into the house I now call my home it was with an anticipation, a frisson, of opening a time capsule.
I had wondered at the trunk’s lightness until I opened it and found four silk down comforters, one so worn that there was a puff of white down when I started pulling the comforters out of the trunk. Under the comforters were rough woolen blankets. I guess I was really worried about staying warm.
One of my sisters had a similar experience when she opened her trunk in her new home, “Mine was full of tea and toast sets! I guess I wanted to make sure I would get breakfast in bed!”
After all these decades, maybe we should share our dowries so we can have breakfast in bed on silk down comforters….
“You can get quality things at a good price – or you can get some real junk!”
My parents got married in England during World War II. Mama said they started married life with very little money and their house was furnished in mid-century American garage sale.
Each of my siblings had a trunk that our next-door neighbor had given us and mama insisted we fill it with things that we liked, treasures from garage sales. Mama said the trunk would be our dowry.
“Pick things YOU like or you will be doomed to only having things your spouse likes.” Her advice was tinged with menace.
When I finally dragged that trunk into the house I now call my home it was with an anticipation, a frisson, of opening a time capsule.
I had wondered at the trunk’s lightness until I opened it and found four silk down comforters, one so worn that there was a puff of white down when I started pulling the comforters out of the trunk. Under the comforters were rough woolen blankets. I guess I was really worried about staying warm.
One of my sisters had a similar experience when she opened her trunk in her new home, “Mine was full of tea and toast sets! I guess I wanted to make sure I would get breakfast in bed!”
After all these decades, maybe we should share our dowries so we can have breakfast in bed on silk down comforters….
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