Sitting on the doorstep I looked out on our lawn and driveway and saw my last eight years in one quick snapshot. Our crib was leaning up against a tree.
The jogging stroller and bike trailer were parked on the lawn. Little Tikes gear littered the driveway – a car, a wagon, a water table, a climber and a desk. There was a play pen, a baby monitor, a change pad and a car seat in my view too.
It was 730am on Saturday and the yard sale started at 8.
As I walked around with a Sharpie and a roll of masking tape, I wondered how you put a price on many of the items that filled our front yard. I paused at the crib for awhile. We’ve walked to that crib thousands of times – day and night – to greet the kids, feed the kids, rub their backs, play peek-a-boo and check on them. That one crib took us from swaddle to toddle for all three of them. I’ll always remember the smiles and outstretched ‘pick me up’ arms that greeted us from behind those slats in the morning. As I watched the woman who bought it slide it into her car, I couldn’t help but think that she had no idea about the history and memories that went along with her purchase.
I was surprised by some of the items that caused a little internal emotional reaction in me. I felt a lump in my throat when someone bought the baby monitor. I realize how ridiculous that sounds as I write it but again, we used the same monitor for all of the kids. It was a safety net – a way to keep tabs on what was going on with our babies and toddlers when we weren’t close to them. It came on vacations with us, it spent summer weekends at our camp and it hung out outside with us if one was sleeping and the others were playing. It definitely was a staple in the early years with the kids. So different from now. Now if the kids need something they just get up and come and find us.
In the end, the yard sale was the right thing to do for many reasons. It is truly unbelievable how many big things you accumulate for small babies and toddlers. The space that has been freed up in our basement is incredible. It’s expensive to acquire everything you need in the early days so it’s also nice to know that in a way we’re helping some new parents out.
It’s also closure. We did it. We made it through the early years and now we’re blessed with three incredible children who can walk, talk, go to the bathroom and who have their own interests and opinions. I wrote a blog awhile ago about the emotions I felt when I watched our expired infant bucket seat leave with the garbage truck. That was the end of a stage just like this was.
So, goodbye stuff. You may be gone from our lives but the memories you’ve given us will live on forever. In a hilarious twist of fate, the one thing that remained when we shut down the sale on Saturday was the one thing that does NOT have a pile of lovely memories associated with it. Anyone out there need a breast pump?
Deanna is a Mom of three, wife, marketer and blogger – lover of travel, morning coffee, family time, belly laughs, good friends and uninterrupted showers! Follow her on twitter @DeannaCMiller