Estate Memories

We used to have a small booth at an antique mall so our weekends would find us at frequent estate sales searching for lost treasures. It was always a bittersweet experience - if we found things we almost always felt guilty for getting a good deal from the loss of somebody's loved one. More often than not, however, we would leave with an empty heart even if we found earthly items. It was always so sad to see that an entire life has come to strangers walking through their house, buying partial boxes of spices for a quarter each. A few of these affected us deeper than others. I remember one in particular where we purchased about 15 slide wheels full of vacation slides. It seemed so sad that there was nobody left to treasure memories and smiles from the family so we thought we'd do something artsy with them and allow others to treasure them in a new format since so many were beautiful scenic photos. Sadly, that hasn't even happened yet.

Don't know what it is, but it has a cool
groove in it that will make a great
place for file folders on my desk.
The other side has a great big
wood burl knot in it.

I hadn't thought much about this until today when we stopped at an estate sale in our neighborhood where once again we left with an empty heart even though I did find one really cool treasure. I discovered one of the saddest items yet - a homemade scrapbook filled with store bought cards, handwritten letters, telegrams and children's drawings all from her child, or children. This was done with so much love and through decades and now it sits in a room full of strangers with their checkbooks in hand. I almost bought it because it was so heartbreaking to see it there. But, I am one of those strangers to whom it meant nothing.

The funny thing is, we are preparing for a big yard sale ourselves, trying to get rid of stuff so we really had no business even walking into that sale today. We have a house full of items without heirs awaiting their own estate sale. Some day someone will walk through and wonder if that vase on our mantel is a 4th generation heirloom or a $3.99 purchase from a discount store. Some day someone will think how sad it is that there was nobody that wanted our memories.