A new insight was offered at a garage sale on the weekend where the items were displayed on blankets in 10 cents, 25 cents, and 50 cents categories. The objects ranged from sport knee pads to interesting books to cell phones to a tiered cupcake holder of unusual design to computer accessories to this replica of a knee bone and many other such things.
(I would have liked the cupcake holder but a woman had already scooped it up – I thought it was one of those things on which to display Christmas cards and when she learned what it was , she did not put it back down.)
The epiphany had to do with the underpricing which I have experienced at sales before. It suddenly occurred to me that the exchange of merchandise at such low prices did not mean the seller undervalued the worth or simply wanted to get rid of it – no, he was engaged in the process of seeing his stuff go to people who were appreciating it on all levels: multi-faceted communication. I got the history of the knee bone.
At another sale a woman picked this up and asked what it was and the seller said she could have it for free if she could identify it. She guessed a Christmas tree ornament and put it back down when he said no and I picked it up and wondered if it was a hat.
It was. Clever folds of paper. Adjusts to head size. The man had no memory of where they had gotten it but said his daughter used to wear it when she was young.