about that timing

Thrift-Shop

There are things that we get excited about.

Just mentioning a situation can get our blood pumping.

And when I say “our” I mean “me”…and anyone out in the world who’s still breathing.

The unified “us”.

That’s what I’m talking about.

We’re going to hit the thrift stores sometime this weekend.

Now if that doesn’t get the “unified us” ….essss…the unified us’s…how do you say that? A bunch of us’s….all of us…all of our blood pumping, I don’t know what would.

Let me repeat…we are going to hit the thrift stores hard sometime this weekend.

Sometime this weekend, we are going to go to as many thrift stores as we can and see what the Christmas bounty has forced people to evict from their lives.

We are going to reap the benefits of the purge.

At least that’s the plan.

In reality, one of us will, of course, hold or push the baby…while the other stands at the meager toy section and stays with Nate while he ponders all his possibilities.

Thrift storing with young children isn’t the blitz that it was before they arrived.

You don’t focus on “selfish things” like unrestricted “me time” or carefree shopping when you have little ones with you.

But irregardless of how the situation goes down, it should be an interesting time to see what new stuff is crowding the floors and shelves…the bins and boxes…of the thrift stores this next couple of weeks.

We have so much in this country.

Piles and piles of “so much”.

So much that when we get new stuff, sometimes we have to donate the old stuff just to make room for the new stuff.  It’s not even a part of planned obsolescence…it’s just a space thing.  We don’t need to get new stuff out of any real need…we need to get new stuff because that’s what we do.

If we can, we get.

I like “getting”…it’s a blast to get stuff.

I like new stuff…even if somebody else has owned it for a while.

It’s fun to see what gets pushed over into the “thrift stream” by other people’s new purchases.  You can find some great stuff that doesn’t belong because there’s just not room for it anymore.

The whole “tax angle” is interesting, too.  Stand around a donation center and you’ll hear the phrase, “Would you like a receipt with that?” very often.

So what doesn’t end up at the thrift stores because of material overcrowding gets there because of a bunch of folks seeking a last-minute task deduction…I mean “tax” deduction.

Task deduction must be some kind of Freudian slip or something.

So the wave I hope to jump into…or, because I’ll probably stand at the toys, craning to catch a glimpse of what’s scattered around the rest of the store…wade towards…is created by people who have to jettison some of their “stuff” just so they can “continue to exist” in their “material world”.

Well, I say, “Cool.”

Count me in when they take the rolls for that club.

I like stuff so much!  That’s gross…but I do.  I like books…and goretex jackets…and tools….and boots…and….and…and…

It really is kind of gross.

I like early morning roosters, crowing on the porch.

I like sunrises in the fog.

I like crashing waves off the coast and a bike ride before anyone else is awake.

I love my family.

I like a lot of things that can’t really be “priced”.  I like things that can’t really be sold, too.

But I do like stuff.

We’re going to score big at the thrift stores this weekend.  I can feel it. I’m going to do my best to crowd out some of my “familiar stuff”…maybe give someone a chance to buy it at some thrift store later.

All this stuff…it makes my head swim with possibilities.

 

About Peter Rorvig

I'm a non-practicing artist, a mailman, a husband, a father...not listed in order of importance. I believe that things can always get better....and that things are usually better than we think.

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