Nostalgia

Since I have embarked on this new adventure of finding old stuff, determining if I think this old stuff is something other people would like to buy...and then trying to sell it to them...I have been surprised at some of the things people want - a beat up Thermos, a cookie jar shaped like a mushroom, or green plastic spoon rest in the shape of an owl.

Some of the things people buy I remember wearing when in high school, or maybe its something my grandmother put her leftovers in, or a brooch my Aunt Mary wore. Things that at one time seemed old and dated. But now, they're appreciated all over again, many times because of the feelings they evoke, remembered feelings of home and childhood, and even a little innocence. Things that you want around you again to remind you of when life was a bit more simple, grounded. Even things that just made you laugh. I love that my job now is to find these pieces of the past that make us smile, or feel pretty, or just look super cool in our renovated ranch houses.

This all became clearer to me this weekend when I returned to the far off and mystical land of my birth - New Jersey -- to be surrounded by the people of my youth - my family, in all its messy, loud, wonderfulness. I treasure these times more than all the vintage thermos, spoon rests and beaded brooches in this great big world.

So, as I like to put pictures here on the blog of either my "favorite" thing I discovered that day or the "strangest," I will give you both in one picture from this weekend... granddaddy playing with my nephew's Mind Flex game in full headgear.
I wonder if thirty years from now someone will be on etsy.com trying to buy one of those old Mind Flex games, they'll remember when their grandfather put it on at a party and acted silly...