Lawn Happening Thoughts

Well, yesterday we had the lawn happening as scheduled. It went pretty well and it was nice to meet people in our community. A couple of people who stopped by remembered us from the last time we had a lawn happening. One lady told me that she had gotten a bunch of fabric from the last one and detailed the clothing she had made for her grandchildren. That was very gratifying to hear and I was thankful to her for the news that something I had given away was put to good use.

At the end we still had a bunch of cinnamon rolls but no coffee and about two Honda Fit-sized loads to bring to the thrift store. I'd say about a half went to people who stopped by, and about 5% ended up back in our house because DJ was having a hard time parting with some of the items, and of course hadn't seen the items brought over by DG and Erika of the Citrus. Everything went smoothly, thanks in large part to the old man's diligence in these things. DG and my Sparky friend came by and we all had fun enjoying the company of our fellow Hogtownians.

Lightening of loads is something we'll be seeing a lot more of, I think. I heard a story about the singer/songwriter, Issa, on a recent piece for All Things Considered that talks about her reverting to a simpler, more troubadour-like personae:

She carries around a small backpack that contains most of her belongings.

"My clothes, I didn't want to look like I was a backpacker and wearing mountain co-op stuff, so I wear really elegant expensive boots and shoes, but only one pair and one beautiful suit," Issa says. "It's a different way of doing things."

Like Radiohead, Issa lets people decide how much they want to pay for songs. Letting people hear the music is more important than the payment for this art.

Okay, that was a bit of digression, but I call attention to it because it says something about how far we've come from this ideal of just trusting people to make the right decisions. Like having a Lawn Happening -- sure, there are going to be people who might be greedheads and snatch up as much of whatever they can haul into their car, but really, what difference does it make? It's their burden, now, not ours. But there really wasn't any of that yesterday and it was more how I had envisioned it -- people stopping by, seeing something that they liked or needed, and taking it along with them. Thank goodness a couple of people came by to pick up the two hulking pieces of exercise equipment our mechanic had given us and were taking up a lot of space in our front room. Our living room looks like a living room again for the first time in five months. That's way more important to me than having a Nordic Trac and an exercise bike. And Wanda, our long-time mannequin companion, found a good home.

Ultimately, though, I don't know if I'm going to do another one. Even without the pricing and sorting you have to do with a garage sale, it was still a lot of work, and it was hardest on DJ because he couldn't quite wrap his brain around the concept. It's hard to let go, especially for a 5-year old (honestly, I didn't realize he wanted to watch "Kingdom of the Seahorse" again).