Yard Sale Shenanigans

First, I need to mention that having a yard sale in Seattle is nothing like it is in Wenatchee. The 100 pounds of plastic toys, piles of baby clothes, and bbq would have sold before the sale even started in Wenatchee. Early birds would have swooped in and drove off within 5 minutes, leaving only dust from the tires as they head for their next prey. Seattleites never show up early, not because they are lazy, but because they haven't had their morning bike ride, latte from their favorite family owned cafe, and a quick chat with their plants (we saw our neighbor talking to one of hers today). Wenatchee folk are in and out and can devour an entire sale in minutes. Sellers like the quick money (we made a hundred dollars in less than an hour in Wenatchee). On the other hand, I have a much deeper appreciation for Seattle yard sales after today. People crack me up.

An older man in a flannel and his dog left and came back three times. He needed a jacket for fishing and we had a perfect Northface one we picked up at a garage sale, but it was priced a little high for him. His third time back he laughed and bought the jacket for full price. He made me smile because he was a sweet guy. And he was a perfect example of my biggest Seattle hypothesis: Most dog owners have a very close resemblance to their pet. I love it. It makes me think that every connection on this planet happens for a reason.

At the end of the sale we had all our junk in bags ready to load up into the car when a bigger lady wearing a carpal tunnel brace on her wrist (she told us all about it) searched our bags and found at least $20 worth. After a good half hour of sitting there waiting for her we gave her some bags. Kelven walked over to add the prices up, but she continued to talk nonstop all the while throwing two bags full of stuff into her car without paying us a dime! I was fine because I figured she must have thought it was all free at this point, but we certainly didn't say this to her. Kelven is convinced she is a con artist and still hasn't let it go. Hmmmmm, wonder what she was thinking as she drove off...suckers!

Last Xmas my dad bought us a train to go around the tree. I have the one from our childhood so we decided to sell the one from my dad. Near the end of the day a nice guy in his fifties looked at it for a long time after asking if it worked (which it did). After another couple minutes he decided to get it. Nobody before him even looked at it. As he was walking off he looked back, smiled and said, "Good luck with your sale today." I find that many men fifty and up really enjoy trains and I was extremely happy that such a kind man will get to set a train up around his tree for his family. His smile and genuine kindness reminded me of my dad and the small transaction made my day.

*Absolute favorite part of the day.
A quirky man (about the same age and build of Judah Friedlander from Thirty Rock) went straight for our small pile of books. He pulled one from the pile and giggled to himself, looked up and asked us if one of us had really read it. I could tell instantly that he was probably one of the funniest guys anybody had ever met. You can just tell with people like that. I said yes and he laughed in pure disbelief. And I preceeded to tell him it was during college when I drank a lot. He handed me fifty cents with a big hilarious smile on his face and walked off shaking his head still laughing. The book was called Clay Aiken Learning to Sing Hearing the Music in Your Life. Either he had the perfect person to give the gag gift to or he was going to place it on his coffee table for everyone to see. We were humiliated and yet proud to be the seed of the flower.