The Yard Sale...and friends

 

November 29, 2020

 

The Yard Sale and friends

 

I never understood why Cherie didn’t want to spend her last Thanksgiving with me in 2018. She had told me she decided not to join the family. I still don’t know what she did for Thanksgiving that year, but I remember telling her that she needed to come to Thanksgiving with our family and mom and dad because “what if this would be mom or dad’s last Thanksgiving with us?!” I begged her to join our family in Phoenix, but she had made up her mind. Looking back, I strongly believe that the cancer (which she didn’t know she had yet) was affecting her brain and decisions she was making. It was shortly after Thanksgiving 2018 that I got a call from my dad at 2:00am, saying that Cherie had a mass in her colon. I was overwhelmed, thinking it wasn’t mom and dad that wouldn’t experience another Thanksgiving with our family…it was Cherie. Her death on October 18, 2019, cut her short of spending another Thanksgiving with me and my family. Her absence was noticeable…she was the table decorator. She would use her pressed fall leaves from previous years and whatever beautiful Fall decorations she had stored away to decorate our table each Thanksgiving we were together. I was busy in the kitchen, preparing food. Cherie’s most important task each Thanksgiving day was to make the table beautiful. Last Thanksgiving, the one right after Cherie’s passing, we all noticed the absence of her thoughtful decorations. This year, my daughter, Cosette, filled her shoes and prepared a beautiful table for us to enjoy our meal. It warmed my heart.

 

Many of you know that my parents have moved and are selling their house they’ve lived in for almost 30 years. Selling their house meant selling Cherie’s cottage, which many have visited through the years. You’ve seen her beautiful household decorations that spoke of her creativity and her personality. Her “cottage” was so charming. The reality of clearing it out, selling most of her belongings, was not real until a couple of weeks ago when my parents had their “moving sale”. I watched, mostly numb, as her household dishes, hat boxes, and decorative wall hangings disappeared, passed on to a happy buyer, to become part of a new home. My parents had to go through 30 years of their own belongings, as well. Many items went into the yard sale. Many of those items invoked vivid memories in my mind. There were bedspreads Cherie and I had used through the years, cameras that had belonged to my grandparents at one point, a giant pot used for canning through the years, many tools of my dad’s, an old stereo of Cherie’s, some of her hat boxes, and various items from her cottage. I had to remove myself from my feelings, from my many memories that ran through my head with certain items for sale on the tables before me. I was strong enough to make it through that day with only a few tears. The emotions were overwhelming.

 

The best thing about that day was watching my parents’ friends. Most are in their 70’s. Many had shown up to help at the yard sale. Some put signs out, others helped with taking money, still others were there for moral support. These friends that gave so much of their time for my parents were inspiring for my heart. They were there at 6am, with smiling faces and coffee in hand. These were couples that had been a part of the Gray family for more than 40 years. They were true friends of my parents. They have all loved and supported each other through the years. My husband and I have been witnesses of watching my parents’ friends come beside them these last 2 years, even for the yard sale! My heart was warmed. Watching their love for one another brought specific friends of my husband and mine to mind, giving me a sense of hope because of a strong bond that has developed with so many through our years. As their faces enveloped my mind, I knew EXACTLY who would be there for us in our old age, through thick and thin and trying times that may lie ahead of our years on this earth. The beauty of God’s people coming together to form life long friendships was something that struck me on that yard sale day. I thanked God for those He has placed in our lives that will continue to be a shoulder to lean on and, perhaps, an early riser at our future yard sale, when we are having to downsize in our later years.

 

The family of God and the friends that He gives us are a testimony to His everlasting kindness and undeserved blessings in our lives. The example set by my parents’ friends has been meaningful, causing me to look ahead and praise our God for the friends he has given the Kinney family that have been, and will be, at our side for many years to come.

 

To the lifelong friends that are true and loving encouragers to my parents…Thank you. Your example in the real ways that you love them has been evident in so many ways. Thank you for giving of your lives, your time, your laughter and your tears. These things will live on. Your support has been encouraging in ways that will affect the life of my own family and close friends for many years to come.