The Brevity of Life

from Ben's mom

We did our customary garage sale outing this morning and thankfully, found very little. There is very little to spend after having purchased Mike a set of golf clubs on Ebay yesterday. (Let's call it a half birthday present--as in Mike's half-bd is in March.) And he informs me, that 8 trips of golfing will have paid for them based upon what he pays to rent.

We went to an estate sale this morning. I rarely go to estate sales as they are typically more costly than garage sales but this one had us curious. It was a "high end house." And it was certainly that. It overlooked the bay and was in a neighborhood of mansions. There were rooms and rooms of gorgeous furniture, most of it sold by the time we arrived 45 minutes into the sale. However, we couldn't have afforded it anyway. But there were some great deals on furniture and art. I came away with a few little stationery items--bubblewrap envelopes, art cards, misc. Christmas cards, notepads, resume paper, etc.... I also bought a brand new hardbound edition of four of C.S. Lewis books for $3. I'm not SELLING it.

It was an interesting feeling traipsing through the house of someone who has died. Everything is for sale, even the food in the cupboards, clothes in the closet, and the plants in the yard. This person was obviously well-off; they had a collection of Christian books and music (Michael W. Smith CD, etc....) and from what I could gather, they were relatively young. I was also a little confused as it appeared that there was both a man and a woman, judging from the clothes. I had to wonder if some devastating accident had claimed them both much too young. There was nothing about this house that made me think these people could be much past 65, if that. There things were beautiful. It reminded me once again that "you can't take it with you." And that life is short and unpredictable. And I wondered what someone will think about me when they go see all my things displayed after my death someday. Will they know what I valued? Will they care?