Hey, give me back that stuff I didn't want!

J and I spent today sitting in our driveway with some of our accumulated stuff strewn provocatively across a huge table. Old things found new homes, and it was fascinating to observe what people bought and why, as almost everyone had a funny explanation or story to accompany their purchase.

Our old dog crate was picked up by a man who had been mysteriously "adopted" by a tame cockateil that had landed at his feet one day, and whose owner he'd not yet managed to find. A woman took a piece of a vintage crate stenciled with "Product of Peru" for a friend who'd spent her whole life living in the nearby town of Peru. Our 80 year old neighbor fell in love with a McCoy planter shaped like a lumbering brown bear. A man who collects such things bought an old "Honest John's Yams" label. A string of vintage Christmas lights became a gift for a son who had just finished his summer's homework, two days before classes begin again. A man my age who remembered playing the game "Dark Tower" as a kid took it home for himself and is probably playing it again right now.

With almost every sale today I could sense the memories, nostalgia, and emotions driving it, as if I were watching a little movie.

I watched my own reactions just as closely. Most of these objects have been sitting in boxes in the attic for some time. Regardless, I found myself experiencing a twinge of attachment each time something sold, an emotion I've never felt after, say, dropping boxes of things off at the Salvation Army. Why?

Another thing I noticed is that whenever I got up from my seat and started touching or picking up objects, a car would slow down and stop. And when one car stopped, another would inevitably follow suit. Why?

I suppose it's because our interest in a thing is very often based not on our own need or desire for it but on other people's interest in it. Obviously in today's culture what's popular is desirable, whether it's a best-selling "must read" novel or a dusty old lamp from the corner of our own attic, ignored for a decade.

Oh, you like that lamp? You're actually buying it? Why am I not keeping it then, if it's so desirable? Am I missing something? Do you think I'm an idiot to be selling this lamp?

Wow. Despite the fact that the whole point of having a yard sale was to get rid of things I'd deemed as unnecessary or unwanted, witnessing someone else's interest in them made me second-guess myself. On the other hand, leaving a box of stuff at the Salvation Army is easy because one doesn't see anybody else wanting any of it. Fascinating.

I thought I was more immune to this mentality, and it was worth sitting in the driveway all day to learn otherwise. Not that it's anything to be ashamed of, but it's a motivation I'd prefer to be aware of.

All-in-all we did pretty well with the yard sale today, but at dusk I carefully packed up the unsold items. I'm going to drop them off at the Salvation Army this week. It'll be easier.