A Silver Lining

Armchair Travelers Book Club members all prayed for sunshine.  It was a brisk morning and most of us were working away at 5:30 am preparing for the event.    The sky was dark and gray with some pockets of sky peeking through, giving us false hope that the clouds would thin out, blow out, or hold out on the impending rain until after our first charity yard sale was over.  The rain would have surely killed the mood and kept the shoppers away.

The weather took care of us well until around 9:00 am.  It began to mist and then the real drops started to fall.  We scrambled between both houses to grab what we could and drag the goods into our garages where things wouldn't get ruined from the wetness.  And in spite of the rain, people continued to come and browse our tables full of books, toys, clothes, furniture, and housewares.   

For 50 cents, one man walked away with our last book selection, Monique and the Mango Rains, for his wife who was a peace corp volunteer like the book's author Holloway;   For an extra couple of quarters in our donation box, he drove away enjoying a couple of great homemade cookies.   

Some people wanted to bargain a $2.00 set of six ceramic coffee cups down to $1.00 while others gave more then what was asked for charity's sake.  And the cookies that Amy and Jen made brought smiles to the young restless kids who had to accompany their parents on a wet Saturday morning. 

A cute young couple showed up.  She was looking for stuff for him and he dug through a box of purses for her.  They left with an arm load of books and a few other things.  Two friends also spent their morning together perusing neighborhoods for good bargain finds.  For a moment, I wanted to do what these couples were doing.  Finding moments like these to bond and secure relationships and friendships.  But then I thought, what a wonderful memory we were creating that day, with good friends, we were doing something larger then all of us could do as a single person.  It was a bonding moment for us too.  And to have an opportunity to positively contribute to a greater cause then just selfishly praying for sunshine on that Saturday morning, I hope we had a chance to answer someone prayers if not our own.

We extended our charity yard sale an hour past our scheduled closing time of 11 am.  Damp in our clothes, the sun came out as the last customer was walking away with a bargain bag full of children's clothes- for $1.00!  We couldn't have done this without all the friends, family, and neighbors who donated the goods for our first charity event.  We raised nearly $700 for charity.  It was surely our silver lining on that rainy Saturday morning.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all who made this first event more successful that we could  have anticipated.