A Garbage Sale and Lemonade

Your sponsorship means everything to me! Click for a discount!Change is in the air already. Ever since November 5th, we’ve been finding ways to get rid of things.It’s time to get rid of clutter. It’s time to streamline. It’s time to prepare in case we have to pack up and run.We’ve lived in our house for 16 years. Our kids were born here. There are a lot of memories. But ultimately, the most important thing is staying together. Wherever we go becomes our home.Last weekend, my wife and kids had a garage sale. At this point, I’ve pretty much turned it over to them.“Sell everything but the hard drives,” I say.The hard drives have the pictures from when they were babies. That’s the only thing in the house that can’t be replaced.My wife has been reluctant to do a garage sale. “I don’t want all those weird people snooping around my home.”But urgency is on the wind. Everything must go.Doing a garage sale is hard work. I put up the pop up tent and helped arrange tables and chairs.“You’re going to need a radio,” I said.“No, no!” the girls protested.I swear, sometimes I don’t know why they object.“Well, I’ll just get a radio and you can turn it off if you don’t want to listen. You also need shade. I’m bringing the umbrella from the back.”“Dad, no, we don’t need that.”But I got it anyway. Later on I went to check on them. They were happily sitting in the shade listening to music while making their lemonade. A work day doesn’t have to be miserable. Life doesn’t have to be miserable. Life shouldn’t be miserable.Why do people convince themselves otherwise?We elected to do both a garage sale and a lemonade stand. It seemed like a good tactic. Come for the lemonade, stay for the sale, or vice-versa.When it was all said and done, both the lemonade stand and the garage sale earned the same. People are more inclined to just give you $5 than buy some trinket you insist still has value.I started writing a sign that said “Garage sale” and almost put “Garbage sale” instead. It might have been more accurate.This wasn’t my daughters’ first lemonade stand. They’ve learned that they sell more if they walk down to the end of the block and hold up their sign. I saw how successful they were both in the people who stopped and the smiles on the drivers who passed by.At one point, I glanced up at my daughter who was dancing and holding up her sign. “Where did she learn those moves?” I said.My wife laughed, “It’s inherited.”I sighed.I got rid of my old lawnmower. I sold it for $5.“Does it run?” Asked the guy.“Try.”So he pulled the cord. I knew it ran because I’d gotten it started just before. “Okay I’ll take it.”“You might as well take the gas can too,” I said. It probably had 2 gallons of gas in it. That alone was worth more than $5. He left with a smile on his face and so did I.I sold the old refrigerator that’s been sitting in the laundry room for a year. We put it online and 6 people inquired. I posted it for $50. One user offered $60. I deleted his message without a reply.The guy came, loaded it up, and off it went.As I watched him drive away, I remembered the time my daughter, still a toddler, opened the door and turned the dial that controlled the cold.I found out about this because the refrigerator stopped working. I went into a panic. We couldn’t afford a new appliance right then. I’d just sat down at the kitchen table to fret, when she came in.She opened the door and reached in with her pudgy little finger.“What are you doing?”She pointed at the dial and smiled.“Please don’t do that again.”“Okay daddy.”We hold onto things because of memories like this. But our memories aren’t erased with our possessions.You can always just write them down instead.It was a good weekend, an exhausting weekend of garbage and lemonade. It made another fond memory on a fine summer day.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI'm so happy you're here, and I'm looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe