Family Garage Sale

Today I dedicated myself to my family's garage sale.

My dad woke me up at 8:30 despite the fact that we had advertised 8 sharp. I promptly got ready and pulled out boxes and arranged junk that has been hiding in our garage. Most of it belonged to my deceased grandma. She used to collect rice cookers and old lady porcelain things. She had a ton of fabric because she used to sew me pj pants among other things; I still have a pair that I occasionally wear. As I arranged the fabric, I remembered the time my brother was 8 and he tripped on the PJ pants our grandma had made him and he fell against the stairs. He had a large gash across the bridge of his nose and a scar for 5 years.

Three Vietnamese ladies arrived and my mom worked her magic. Stuff was selling left and right; a dollar a piece. My mom found a couple of things that my grandma used to put in her hair and decided to keep it because it still smells like her. Among her trinkets and appliances, the governement gave my grandma a $5,000 electric wheelchair. She passed away before she got any use from it. My mom told me to help her sell it for $1,000. She told me she would use that money to pay for my grandma's tomb stone.

An old lady who spoke only Spanish bought 7 pieces of fabric and a food processor. When she was done shopping she approached my mom and said "Cinco." I counted in my head: Uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco.. she wanted $5 for everything. Her smile was warm, her hands were strong, my mom agreed. She didn't have a car so we tried our best to put it in a bag for easy carry. And as she walked away, adjusting the heavy weight in her arms, I was reminded of my grandma who probably bought the same fabrics and food processor from another garage sale while walking in her neighborhood.

Smyr is moving into his apartment and I offered him Alysia's dining table. It made me really happy because I wanted to keep it within friends. He stopped by, decked out in professional clad. I also offered him a love seat and told them that he is obligated to let me hang out at his place because he has a piece of my furniture. With a half smile, he agreed but told me about parking problems in his complex.

During down time, I talked to my brother in an effort to understand him better. He loves this online game and I asked him, "besides fun, what else does this game accomplish? Do you get money? are you mentally stimulated? is there a prize?" He responded to my quazi condescending question that it was just for fun. I told him that it's cool that he has this hobby, but he needs to not make it a priority because there are other things in life that are important. He gets pretty flustered when he only gets 6 hours at a time on the web. I asked him about high school and he told me how much he hated the people, how there are so many cliques. I reassured him that things will get better. I thought about other people who hated high school: Gabe, Madeline. And I surely do not want him to have such negative memories similar to theirs. But high school is a horrible time for most people, it seems.

I went to arrange the boy's clothes and found a T-shirt that belonged to Tofu that he bought it in Las Vegas. I remembered how he always buys tshirts when he travels. I held it in my arms and smelled it for a second, folded it and tossed it on my bed. I wondered if he would do the same, but concluded that he wouldn't because I have bad B.O.

As the sun started to hide behind our house, we slowly packed our things. We made $216 and celebrated with a Thai dinner. My brother really enjoyed it for once. He was whining for Arby's but settled for a garlic beef dish that he quickly devoured even though he assured our mom that he hated Thai. His stubbornness, like my sensitivity is both a strength and weakness.

Tomorrow, we'll get to do it agai, but with better advertising. I plan to strategically place arrows underneath other's signs pointing in our direction. Hey, I'm not covering any signs. It's fair gorilla marketing.