Welcome to your new home, Fountain Lady

“It is those that have enough but not too much who are the happiest.” – Peace Pilgrim

 Estate sales make me sad. No matter how respectfully the offerings are laid out or how fairly and painstakingly they are priced, there is something so sad about seeing a person’s life sold off in a piecemeal way.

 
We spend a lifetime amassing possessions - some full of meaning and memory, others simply pretty or useful in some way - only to have it all sold off during a two-day “clearance” event…Clothing, jewelry, dishes, silverware...Guns, tools, furniture…Countless odds and ends…Rooms full of memories, past laughter, dried tears, sifted through first by family, then strangers and friends.    
 
Walking through an estate sale house, I can almost hear the stories that will now, forever, be lost. Was that glass-domed cake plate a special gift that later lent a festive air to every birthday cake or anniversary pie it kept? A closet full of fancy wear - sweaters, vests, fur coats – bought for a special occasion or holiday, worn once or twice, then left as a piece in this longing-filled closet display, smelling of moth balls and lavender…Shoes still in the boxes, piled high…Hats, gloves, necklaces…All of only passing value to new owners now.  

And, collections - all kinds of collections. Angels, farm animals, turtles, pets, frogs…Dolls, stuffed toys, dishes, glassware…Knives, guns, books, stamps…Did the person really like these things or did the collection take on a life of its own, once two or three were received as gifts, eventually claiming entire shelves, display cases, hutches and window sills…Only to end up sold, one piece at a time…

One of my grandmothers collected glass animals, the other tea cups from around the United States. Both collections were extensive and as a child, I marveled at them, so impressed – such beautiful things and so many of them, all lined up and wonderfully displayed. Each offering in both collections was labeled with where it came from, who gave it and the date. I spent hours imagining all the marvelous things that colored glass menagerie did, dancing in the light; and, sorting through those tea cups was as if I was the one taking a trip.

Then came the estate sales and the collections were divided up and given away. It’s nice that whomever gave the object got it back and that we were allowed to pick our favorites from the rest…A bright blue bird and a pale green mushroom from the glass collection sit on my kitchen windowsill and a pretty blue, green, orange and golden tea cup with my name written on it in my grandmother’s hand sits in my hutch. I’m glad to have these things for the memories they offer, but all three look a bit lost and sad, as if their true value was in being a part of the collection, rather than simply a single piece.   

 

Recently I went to an estate sale in my neighborhood. Even though it was well organized and held because the owner moved to assisted living, rather than died, melancholy still filled the air. I bought a yard angel, a bird bath and a rather spectacular concrete fountain of a woman in a Greek-looking dress pouring water out of a big round jar.

The woman whose home was being emptied had clearly loved that fountain because it was proudly displayed in her front yard and she kept it running almost all of the time, only shutting it off and bundling it up on the coldest of days. The house is on my dog walk, so for years I’ve passed the Fountain Lady almost every day and the sound of her steady soothing water always pleases me.

When I saw the cars at the estate sale, I went immediately. If Fountain Lady was for sale, she was coming home with me. She was not inexpensive, but she was an amount I could afford to pay and while her smile seems more muted than it did back in her front yard, I’m sure Fountain Lady’s homesickness will abate someday.       

They say money can’t buy happiness, and as estate sales seem to indicate, our possessions can certainly come to possess us. But, I do believe we find a relatively simple pleasure in a few of our most beloved personal things. I like coming and going to the sound of Fountain Lady and listening to her makes me feel peaceful when I sit on the porch. I’m glad we could keep her in the neighborhood, so others who like her can still walk by. 

My friend, Joy, says she likes going to estate sales because it’s there she can find something meaningful to remember that person by.

“My house is full of things that just look like things,” she says, “but to me, each and every one of those things brings back a story or a memory of someone who was dear to me.”  

I hadn’t thought of estate sales that way – what a nice thought. I’ll have to share it with Fountain Lady; maybe that will help her feel more at home.