My neighbors Parker and Patty are always telling me how proud they are to be a part of Port O’Connor, Texas. They say it is a great community and so friendly.

Just last month Patty and Parker held a garage sale to get rid of some old items they no longer needed. One grandson wanted to help them out with the sale. He arrived early on Thursday morning to help sort and price the items. He got right to work hauling boxes out of the shed and setting up tables. Things were going pretty well, that is until they began to open those boxes.

In every box and almost every bag the grandson found one or more ‘treasures’ he just had to have. He found an old shoeshine box with a footrest and a storage area for shine supplies. He asked his granddad about 50 questions about the box. It had been in the family since before Parker was born and he had watched his dad shine his work shoes on that very box. Of course the grandson was sure that they could never part with this family heirloom, so it was first into an ever-expanding pile of keepsakes and mementos, souvenirs and saves that could never be sold at a garage sale.

He found an old hammock and convinced Patty it was just what he needed. He located an ancient cassette tape player and sack of tapes and after a history lesson from his granddad added it to his cache. An antique soup tureen, an old mustache cup, a razor strop and a moldering fur hat were all discussed, declared priceless and squirreled away in his keepsake stash.

Parker and Patty knew his parents would not be pleased to see him transfer less than useful items from one family storage to another, but they were unable to convince their grandson that the stockpile was really just a pile of stuff. He found the history fascinating, the family connection charming and the ageless antiquity enthralling for each item in his collection. No matter how hard they tried, they could not convince him that many of the items had no real use and little value and the space they took up could be better used otherwise.

By the time the garage sale was set up, set out and items priced, the grandson had most of the back seat of his small vehicle filled completely and a few bigger items were stuffing the trunk. He worked hard helping his grandparents, and stayed to work at the sale. He carried boxes, toted items to cars for buyers, swept up, stored the tables and even helped his granddad count the money. Afterwards he asked what he owed them for the items he had selected. His grandparents laughed and told him they were free, with a lesson. None of the items were valuable, but many of them had value in his eyes because of who owned and used them. Many were just a curiosity, something new to the grandson.

His granddad said he could take them all home and enjoy them as much and as long as he wanted as long as he promised them one thing. He must promise that not even one single item would end up back at his grandparents house after the novelty wore off. He would have to give or sell them to the next person on his own. The grandparents had already decided they had stored all that ‘old junk’ long enough when they boxed it up for the garage sale. The grandson agreed and happily took his treasure home with him on Sunday.

Parker and Patty wondered how long it would be stored at their kid’s place before it made the next garage sale….