Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Garage Sale Emotions


Our stuffed Santa figure sitting in the wicker chair is back home again.

Santa sat on my living room floor every Holiday Season of the last twenty or so.  One year, Denver, my sulkiest cat to date, decided that Santa had in some manner insulted him.  The cat pounced on Santa, dragged him out onto the living room floor, and kicked his ass.  My wife, Uyen, saved Santa and wired him to the wicker chair after that.

Over the weekend, I participated in a family garage sale in Helena.  I sold off all the usual suspects: glassware, collectibles, extra tools, and so on.  Some items were difficult to part with on emotional levels.  I sold, as example, a couple wall-hangings crafted by Uyen and some china that belonged to my grandmother.   Those items were a little difficult to watch go, but after I spoke with each of the women who purchased them, I felt better.

On to new, happy homes!

Throughout all of Saturday and most of Sunday, each time I spotted Santa sitting there alongside the other Christmas decorations, I felt a little guilty.  If not guilty…sad.  I recalled all the snowy mornings, the Christmas and New-Year dinners, all those years with the stuffed Santa sitting there in the living room with us…

“I may need to take Santa home again,” I suggested to one of my friends as the sale drew close to the end.  About ten minutes later, I scooped Santa into my arms and took him out to my truck.  He needed to go back home with me.  Everything else would go to charity following the sale.

Not Santa!

Posted is a photo of Santa sitting on the back deck.


--Mitchell Hegman

2 comments:

  1. There are things that are just hard to part with for sentimental reasons.

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  2. So true. I have been trying to clear my life of too many "things" and general clutter. Stuffed Santa is a bit more than that, I guess.

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