Closed for the Day

 

The tag sale is over. At least for now.

Laura and I handled everything today. We cleaned the giant pile bound for the dumpster that will be arriving soon (hopefully tomorrow).

But we did get a considerable assist from some family. My cousin Matt, his son, daughter, and my Aunt Nina -- my mother's sister -- stopped by.

They picked up Mom's chair lift and recliner, thus eliminating two big headaches for us.

While making money off those items would have been great Laura and I both agree that there's no better place for both things than with Mom's lone remaining sibling. 

There was a hope that I would take the recliner in my still-to-be-announced place. But space is limited and this is the best answer.

With each day, we'll continue to see more swings of emotion. At times, today was disheartening. Waking up to rain didn't get the day started on a good note.

By lunch -- after Aunt Nina and company left -- Laura and I decided to give up. We filled our cars to take some things to Goodwill but even that brought headaches. 

We drove away and got lunch at a nearby Chili's.

To be clear, I did not feel God in that Chili's today (The Office reference).

A few stragglers did show up, including a gentleman with a pickup truck after I got back from eating. He grabbed a few more things and, the way I look at it, everything taken helps us in the long run.

So I decided to post a few signs, advising people of the tractor, the free stuff, and the stuff that's still hanging around. Please inquire within and, quite honestly, we've done very little haggling (in case you're wondering about prices). 

Had we done this a year ago or even a few weeks ago we could have been a little more particular. Now? Not so much.

One of the items we said goodbye to was my push lawnmower. That means I now have no way to mow the lawn.

Further means that, unless something changes, I'm done mowing the lawn that I've cared for (mostly) since I was 11 years old.

Emotionally, I've been mostly unfazed throughout everything but, briefly, I discovered a part to my father's Gravely tractor among things we were cleaning. It's hard to explain but I felt an unexpected flood of memories. There, in that moment, I simply said, "Ouch" and doubled over. 

Like I said, it's hard to explain.

Before I wrap up, I want to shout out two friends, Mark Sinsabaugh and Steve Alpert. Mark (whom I've never met in person) and Steve (oh yeah I have) stopped by for a few minutes on their way to the Mets game. It allowed me a moment of chatter and laughter and the fact that pulled in if only to see how I was doing, meant a ton.

Thanks, guys.

There's a chance we'll do the tag sale again next weekend but no guarantees.

The countdown to the end is on.