I recently held a two-day garage sale at my parents’ home in Tinley Park.
After some 20 years and my mom’s passing, it was time for my dad to downsize. He found a beautiful townhome just four blocks away. No more snow shoveling, gutter cleaning or lawn mowing.
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There is nothing like cleaning out a home to take you down memory lane. It was a seemingly endless task that left me exhausted physically and mentally. What to save? What to toss?
After months of sorting, my dad’s garage was filled to capacity with box upon box of past lives, childhood memories and items we were ready to part with. This was going to be some serious purging.
Thanks to my husband and some really good friends, we got it all set up for a two-day garage sale … my first in 25 years, I realized.
As far as garage sales go, this was a pretty big one. It looked like a small flea market. As much as I wanted and needed this stuff gone, I’ll admit that I wasn’t looking forward to haggling with people over a dollar or, worse, a dime.
Gratefully, my experience turned out to be much better than I had expected. My little flea market drew a constant flurry of bargain hunters, curiosity seekers and interested neighbors. Best of all, everyone was nice. My cynicism was all but gone by mid-morning.
There was a lot to look through, so people stayed awhile. I overheard and was part of some very interesting conversations. No one knew me and people spoke freely. Talk about getting the pulse of your town.
I’m not sure who’s reading this, but from a cross section of the neighborhood, this is what I heard:
The No. 1 topic of concern discussed was our new village board. While all the talk of Mayor Dave Seaman was positive, there seemed to be a general uncertainty about the future and our new trustees. No one seemed to know much about them or what their agenda is. This seemed funny to me because somebody out there voted them in. But I kept my mouth shut.
The closing of one of the Lincoln-Way schools was another topic I heard discussed several times. At the time of the garage sale, the decision to close Lincoln-Way North had not been made yet, and the general tone was of concern for the upheaval of the students and their families as well as the disbelief that one of those beautiful campuses would sit vacant. There was lots of speculation and talk of fiscal responsibility.
There was much about the weather and the summer that we never really had, until of course my garage sale weekend, when the temperatures got up into the 90s and it felt like a steam bath for three days. There was talk about global warming and I think I found this topic most disturbing. Let’s just say there are a lot of misconceptions out there. I heard predictions of a severe winter, a mild winter, lots of snow, no snow and some comments on how “we’ll be paying for this nice weather.” I had to bite my tongue a lot.
On the bright side, many of the items I had brought back nostalgic memories for people. Total strangers exchanged stories and laughs about their childhoods and families. People were really nice.
Many people asked why we were moving. Lots of neighbors came by to ask how my dad was doing, and everyone wished us well.
I met people buying things for their grandchildren to play with when they visit, young people furnishing their new dorm rooms and people who volunteer at PAWS looking for useful things. I met a lady who sews tiny blanket wraps for stillborn babies. How I wished I had fabric for her. Phone numbers were exchanged, contacts were made. It was a good day.
The best part was that people left with a little treasure of some sort … some useful, some useless, but satisfying all the same. As I watched so many of the objects that had shaped my past walk away that weekend, I found that there was no remorse in letting go. On the contrary, it felt good to see my things move on in the world and make someone else happy for awhile.
Funny, I never saw a garage sale as an opportunity for growth, closure and connection, but it was all of that.
It also reminded me just how much I like living in this town.
Julie Dekker is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.