IT'S  "JUST STUFF"

I'm not one to share personal or family issues on social media outlets.  I believe if it's personal or family,  in most cases,  the situation  should be kept private.  That being said,  I also believe sometimes,  very seldom but sometimes,   you are left with no other choice but to go to your friends and extended family for help or advice.  I have decided this is one of those times.

I hope you will not think bad of me or the family as you read this and after you have heard the complete story,  I feel certain you will understand how these things could happen.  As I sit here thinking about this situation,  I can truthfully say understand how it could  happen to anyone,  even to you.  In fact, it may have already infiltrated one of your family members or a loved ones lives.  Maybe it has even entered your own life.  I just hope I can depend on you, for your help and support after you read my story.  For you to totally understand this predicament we have gotten ourselves into,  I need to go back to the very beginning,  so pour your sweet self a cup of coffee,  sit down and lean back,  and let me try to explain.

It all started years ago.  It started innocently enough.  We,  Peggy and I, were just out to have a little fun.  Good family time if you will.  It was just something we could do and enjoy together.  To start with, we would just stay in our own neighborhood.  At first it was "JUST the little STUFF" we would buy.  You know,  a dish here or a trinket there.  We would just ride around and look for hand printed signs and it seemed everyone was selling this "STUFF".  They were selling this "STUFF" they had accumulated from only God  knows where and people were actually paying good money for this "STUFF". They called it Yard Selling or Garage Selling.  I'm sure you've seen them.  Shoot......  You may have even had one or gone to one of these sales  yourself.  Let me warn you......  Be careful ......BE VERY CAREFUL.  In the beginning,  it's just the little "STUFF ".... but it can turn into an addiction.  Well, back to our story.  From the safety of our  own little neighborhood we started to branch out.  You see,  when we first started as I said it was just little "STUFF" but on occasion you would find some really cool and unusual  "STUFF."   You know what I mean.  Antique "STUFF" or vintage "STUFF".  We thought  to ourselves if you can find this "STUFF" in our little area of town,  there has to be better "STUFF" out there somewhere.  So we ventured farther out.  First it was just to surrounding towns and cities.  Then we went to other states.  The need and desire to find bigger and better "STUFF" was what compelled us to go on.  Yard sales and garage sales turned into estate sales and estate sales turned into auctions and....well, you get the picture..  We became consumed with the desire to find and buy the best and most unique an unusual  "STUFF" we could.  And now,  because of a TV show,  at times we are even called "PICKERS" whatever a picker is.  My Mama use to fuss at me for being a picker so the word doesn't bring back pleasant memories.  I didn't like to hear my Mama fussin'.

Well,  all this "STUFF" buying brings us to here.  We've decided we can't stop buying so we must get rid of some of our "STUFF",  other wise we are afraid we may become,  lord forbid,  one of those dreaded people called "HOARDERS."  This is where "you" come in.  We've opened an Antique & Stuff Booth here in Douglasville and if you need or want to buy some "STUFF",  there's a good chance we've got it, and we want you come by and look.  We want to save you the time and expense,  (you have noticed gas has gone up haven't you?   I remember when it was 26 cents a gallon.  There I go,  living in the past again but darn it's fun.  Oh yeah....I've got to get back to my story.....Where was I?)
Oh yeah,  We want to save you the time and expense of riding all over creation looking for that special piece of  "STUFF" to improve your "decor".   I like that word  "DECOR"....That's short for decoration for your house.  Anyway, We are located in Booth 64 at BEN'S FURNITURE AND ANTIQUES,  9579 Hwy 5, Dougalville Ga, in the old Kmart Shopping Center or if you want to be kind of  "high falutin", you can tell all your friends that you're going to  "THE ARBOR SQUARE SHOPPING CENTER".  We have an assortment of antiques, vintage items, repurposed items,  custom made primitive reproductions and........you know........  "JUST STUFF"....
We also have a facebook page and it's called.....you guessed it... "JUST STUFF ANTIQUES" and we want you to like us on our page.  We don't just want you to, we  need you to "Like" us on facebook and  we need you to share our page with all your family and friends and your preachers and school teachers and you mail carriers and the cashier at the corner store and the PTA...well you get the idea.  We need to get the word out there. And  since we can't stop buying,  it's only natural that we will have different "STUFF" in our booth every time you come in.  We really need to sell some "STUFF".  If you're a chicken rancher like me,  you know the price of laying mash and cracked corn has gone up and Peggy thinks she has to feed all the birds in middle Georgia and the price of bird seed has gone out of site.  Peggy also doesn't want her birds taking a bath in a creek or a mud puddle, (She's afraid the water may may be polluted)  so she has placed bird baths through out the yard to insure "God's creatures of the air" have a proper place to get clean and the water bill is soaring at "Peggy's spa for the feathered masses".  Plus,  We don't want to be known as the dreaded those "HOARDERS" we're starting to hear about.  Being known as a  "HOARDER" is not my idea of making it bigtime in  TV land.

So as you can see.  The need is great.   We need your help. Come on in,  look around and........ "remember when your Mama had one of those",,,,, and Please Please Please like and share our page.

As they say at Hardy Chevrolet......WE LOVE AND WE NEED YOU.....

A SIMPLE SQUARE OF WHITE CLOTH.........

I'm sure a lot of people would say I spend to much of my time living in the past.  As I've gotten older,  it doesn't make much of a difference what people think or say about me anymore.  You see,  I've found I enjoy reminiscing about times and people and time spent with people and in my later years I've set the goal to enjoy things and be happy.  Now, I don't mean to brag, but I've been pretty successful at being happy the last few years.  I've also found that many times as I reminisce, I find a lesson to learn that may have escaped my mind at an earlier time, but I have also found we are never to old to learn.  At  times, I've  probable even reminisced about times I've spent with many of you, and I'm thankful for those times because it is those time, that have made me who I am.

Most times it doesn't take a lot to get my mind going.  Sometimes, something will just appear and make me think of things in my past.  You know,  things we thought were so great and things we wondered how we ever got along with out, and now we don't have them or use them or they have been improved so much that we never think about the old models anymore.  You know the things I'm talking about.  Things like fax machines and the old beepers that just beeped and you had to  find a pay phone to call the office to see who wanted you.  How long has it been since you used a pay phone, or how long since you have even  seen one?  And do you remember the first cell phones that weighed 6 pounds and cost a thousand dollars and 50 cents a minute to use.  Or do you remember when gas cost 26 cents a gallon and 50 cents worth would get you to school and back home all week.  Of course I remember that sometimes it was hard to come up with that 50 cents.  I remember cutting the neighbors grass with a reel type lawn mower for a quarter and with that quarter I could go to the movies on Saturday and buy a coke and a box of popcorn. 

I could go on and on with other thing I remember as I'm sure you could, but it was something much more simple than a movie or cell phone that got my mind to going  Saturday morning.  No it wasn't the cost gasoline or even my first used bicycle.  I got up early as I do most mornings,  took my shower,  and as I was getting dressed,  for some reason I looked in my top dresser drawer.  Now as most men do, I have a top dresser drawer that I hardly ever look in.  It's full of things I seldom use.  Things like gloves for cold weather,  a knee brace,  rings and watches I never wear and old pocket knives I never carry.  But yesterday as I opened that drawer the first thing I saw just jumped out at me.  It was a "white handkerchief".......That's right....just a simple  "white cotton handkerchief."   I picked it up,  sat down on the bed and stared at this simple one foot square piece of white cloth.  I've never had a habit of carrying a handkerchief.  I have no idea where the handkerchief came from but I couldn't take my eyes off of it for a few minutes.  I wonder how many men carry a handkerchief in their pockets now days?  I don't mean for decoration, but to use.  I would bet very few.

As I stared at this handkerchief,  it took me back to a time in my life when I was invincible.  Oh sure,  I could get hurt.  I could fall and skin my knee or I could even get hit in the nose with a baseball and get a bloody nose.  I could stick my finger with a fish hook.  I could eat a fudge cycle and have it melt all over my face and hands and sometime I would even shed a tear and need my eyes wiped and need to blow my nose.  The one constant was my dad was always there with his handkerchief to clean me up and make me feel better.  I knew I was protected.....  I knew I was safe....  When dad got dressed it was as natural for him to put his handkerchief in his pocket as it was for him to put his socks on.  No matter what was wiped away with that handkerchief,  seems it never had any bad germs on it,  because I never got any infections from it.  It would be very easy to say that my Dad's handkerchief had supernatural powers,  but I don't think that's what it was.  I think maybe he had the super powers.

As I closed my dresser drawer I stood up,  folded the handkerchief and put it into my back pocket.  You see,  my four year old grandson Hunter was coming over for the day and with a little boy,  you never know when you might need a simple white cotton handkerchief.....................