Rummaging

It goes without saying that I'm not a rummage sale type person.  I like new things: new unwritten in notebooks; brand new cookwear; new dresses; a crisp, unopened book...

And yet, I got myself into running the school rummage sale this year.  Which despite it killing me this week, has been fine, really.  It's an important event for the school that has a definite time line.  Plus, I am good at planning events and coordinating people and things. 

What I'm not so good at?  Sorting through other peoples' clothes and stuff, putting away old books and magazines, and putting away baby spit-on clothes.  These things exhaust me.  And this past week, I have seen more of peoples' basements and inner lives through their castaway junk than I care to admit.  As Beerman put it one day, "We threw out better stuff in our dumpster this summer than some of these peoples' entire loads!"

But it's gotten me really re-evaluating my castaway life.  Wear that a few times and tire of it? Pitch it.  Buy those shoes and they pinch a bit? Out the door.  Purchase those table linens, and decide you don't really like them. Stow them away, fooling yourself that one day you'll like them.

Now don't get me wrong, this isn't turning me into a rummage sale kind of person.  In fact, more than ever, it's proving I'm not. (Especially when I see one of my co-chairs taking treasures by the armload each day, and all I can do is cringe at the thought of having that stuff in my house!)   But it has gotten me looking at all our "things" and their value bit differently.  And that's a great thing to stop and assess once in a while.

In the meantime, I'll keep washing my hands profusely after sorting through everybody else's stuff, and smile as we count the money we continue to make for the school.