Driving down the road on a beautiful pre-Autumn day, the large red sign catches my eye.  "Estate Sale 50% Off"…. I am torn, yet curiosity draws my car to the curb.  As an avid garage sale seeker, I often enjoy the victory of the bargains I find while rummaging through items no longer wanted by the owner.  But the items of my garage sale victories are most often found outside on the hard cement driveway or garage…unattached to story, emotion or the life that shared its journey.   

This Autumn day I find myself entering the Estate Sale house in a cloud.  Estate Sales seem to take on a life of their own within my head, a dream like place that  gives me a story of the joys and sorrows experienced within that house.  As I walk through the remnants of a strangers life, touching the tiny pink baby dress so lovingly cherished, and the hand made dance costume carefully tucked away,  long after the ones who wore them had out grown them and tossed them aside. 

.I touch the china that must have hosted hundreds of Thanksgiving day dinners, birthday parties and anniversary celebrations, delicately arranged around the "50th Anniversary" pieces.  Sitting in the corner, the crutches, a walker and hints of health issues suggest why the vibrant woman pictured in my head no longer chooses to call the tri-level house her home. 

My heart saddens at the volume and variety of nick-nacks , each with its own story and memory, left there on the shelf ready to start a new life with its new owner

They say life passes in the blink of an eye.  Looking around my own home at each special rock collected, funny ceramic ashtray painted, and picture taken I can't help but wonder what that Estate Sale shopper of the future will feel and see as she walks through my halls when I am gone.  

My Life in scrapes, all over the house.