by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
A writer tells as much about themself by what they leave out of their writing as by what they include. This point was driven home to me this past weekend while staffing a garage sale with my longtime buddy, Michelle. We’ve known each other since first grade so we remain friends because we have so much blackmail material on each other.
The weather was great and we had a steady stream of customers Saturday morning until 12:55 p.m., then not one shopper for the rest of the day. When the weather gets above 80 degrees here in early May on a Oregon weekend, people shop early and play in the sun in the afternoon. Standard operating procedure.
So Michelle and I had plenty of time to talk in between her family running in and out, the area kids checking out the sale, neighbors stopping by and the Slip and Slide water party going on across the street. “This reminds me of when we were kids during the summer,” she said. “Not a care in the world.”
We chatted about odd things we remembered. Michelle must have a 500 GB memory. She recalls the most embarrassing and odd facts about me, most I’ve forgotten on purpose. A retired teacher, she has an Android app in her head to categorize kids, people and memories.
I noted the Easy Bake Oven she’d had for sale for $5 when I dropped my items off Friday night to set up; it was gone when I arrived Saturday morning – neighbors getting in on the pre sale. I’d always wanted a pink Easy Bake Oven growing up and it must be why I prefer to bake instead of cook to this day. I did get my Chatty Cathy doll and I still have her, no garage sales in her future.
While we watched shoppers sift through our items for sale and talked about the details of our childhood, I knew there must be a million stories out there about gifts kids wished for and never got and the ones they wanted and received. Shades of “The Christmas Story” movie come to life. Got a gift never received Christmas, holiday or birthday memory? Write that story!
Then go find the toy on eBay and buy it for yourself. It’s never too late to fulfill childhood dreams, including becoming a writer.
Had both Chatty Cathy and an Easy Bake Oven! The one thing I regret not purchasing at a recent antique show was The 1958 Hubley Special cap gun. The Rifleman (Chuck Connors) had the “real deal” and I never missed an episode!