About Me

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Thanks for stopping by! I have tried to create an "about me" several times...hard to talk about myself here but easy in a blog post? I know, I am totally quirky. I even thought after typing, deleting, typing again and then deleting, "do they really care to hear that I am a 39 yr old wife, mother of 2, hairsylist, scrapbooker, writer (obviously), roller blader, walker, furniture repurposer and so on and so forth?" I do (as I said in my title) wear my heart on my sleeve and sometimes I am PAINFULLY HONEST. Can be a good trait and can be bad at times. Just ask my mom. I guess a good way to describe that would be a straight shooter? I love taking pictures, meditation and yoga fascinate me. What kind of music do I like? ALL MUSIC! That's really all I have for now. Thanks again for taking the time out of your most likely very busy day or night and reading my blog. I would love to hear your feedback, good or bad. I promise if it's constructive criticism, I will put my big girl panties on :O)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Don't judge a book by it's look..and appreciate your loved ones

So, my mom, my Grammie and I decided that we would try our new business out at Denios Farmers market.....during the Mother's Day weekend. Who needs a fancy brunch with a hefty price tag and a stomach only big enough for one trip anyway, right? Well, not exactly. The first day felt like a total bust and I went home with a headache, nausea and completely exhausted. I also had only operated on 3.5 hrs of sleep and not enough nourishment or hydration...pretty foolish. While driving home with tears in my eyes, I told myself what failures we were and how much of a waste it was to spend our holiday weekend in a dirty flea-market. I kept thinking what a joke we are, our stuff is not marketable, who are we kidding??l I am a little off track here since my posting is about the people selling next to us not about the fact that we thought it was a great idea to forgo relaxation for our failing business.
So about the sellers next to us. I thought perhaps they were friendly at first, after all they were gonna give us a stuffed dog to use in our doggie tote for the display-we insisted on paying for it of course, but the point is they offered. After that I felt blank stares and dirty looks and decided to take it personally. I kept telling my mom that I thought they were rude and stuck up and that the vibe was awkward. I did notice that a few of them were going through items as if they hadn't seen them before. Examining them even putting some items in their cars. I thought perhaps they had purchased a container or a storage unit and as they were selling they were finding things they wanted to keep. It was none of our business but while we were twiddling our thumbs waiting for a customer, it gave us something to discuss and we are ( I am sure it is very obvious at this point) a very nosey family!
I woke up the next day feeling like a train had hit me and I was very tired but I mustered up the strength to get ready to face another day at Denios with very low hopes for profit or exposure and zero energy. We arrived a little late and our neighbors on both sides were parked in such a way that we had to wake up the driver on one side to temporarily move and then our best friends on the other side seemed to be really ticked off that we pulled in. She sped off with a Cruella Diville scowl to take their car to the parking lot. I remember thinking, "gosh what a bitch" as she drove off. They immediately gained a massive amount of interest too, marking everything down to 2 for $1 with an exception of some select items. I felt jealous (embarrassing as that is to admit) and at one point I even said "good" to my Mom after she told me they were leaving. I thought it was quiet enough but after all the dirty looks I thought I had received all weekend, I didn't care if it wasn't. My mom was very interested in their items, chairs that appeared to be vintage and a couple of wool blankets. I, on the other hand, was not going to buy anything from them no matter how great their things may have been or the amount of people swarming around googling at their treasures. 
My mom ended up buying the blankets at the end of the day from what she learned was the daughter of the original owner of those wool blankets. She was the one that I saw examining every piece of clothing, jewelry she came across even grabbing some things and slipping them back into the car to keep for herself. She told my mom that her mom had died on Wednesday, just 3 days prior at the very young age of 64 and these were all of her belongings. She also told my mom that she wanted the wool blankets to go to someone who would love them. She said she was the closest to her mom  and that she would have wanted them to do this. Turned out she was a very sweet lady and the dirty looks and awkwardness I thought I felt was actually them mourning the loss of their mother.  I felt like a terrible person, rude, judgemental and selfish.   I was the one with the bad attitude and I was doing what my mama always told me not to, Don't judge a book by it's look (or cover). It's nearly Tuesday and I still feel very guilty for the way I acted. They offered us what was left in their stash because they were trying to get out of there early which made me feel even worse. She explained that she wanted to hurry home to Sebastapool to her kids, 15, 6 and 4 who missed her very much, it was after all, Mother's Day and she had been gone all week. I can't even imagine how it must have felt to be selling  your deceased mother's stuff on that day. There were 4 or 5 siblings there selling and periodically they'd hug each other from behind, big bear hugs. I remember thinking how sweet that was. While they were hugging and being sweet, we were bickering with my Grammie, my Mom's mom about her noseyness. We snapped at her that we had no idea why the people a few stalls up hadn't set up and "Oh my God, why did she care anyway?" They stared at us, which pissed me off even more, but now I knew why they were watching us argue. They were probably thinking that we should appreciate each other more because we could be in their shoes someday very soon. Maybe they saw themselves in our interaction with Grammie on the other hand, they could have been feeling guilty for doing the very same thing to their mom. The daughter that was the closest to her mother did explain that she didn't get a lot of visitors and that a few of them lived out of state. So, maybe we didn't make a ton of money this weekend and I walked away feeling beat up and unsuccessful. I can say that I learned such a valuable lesson from total strangers. Not to judge people, you don't know the burden they're carrying and to appreciate the loved ones in your life, because you don't know just how long you will have them next to you to do so.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a rough weekend sorry. BUT you are right on with the analogy...We all do it too often.

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  2. Goes to show ya, you just never know what kind of day another person is having. Or what life event another might be experiencing.

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