LURE OF A COUNTRY AUCTION (part 9 )

                                                 THE LONELY SEWING MACHINE

My husband’s aunt was at an auction several years ago that was held at a parsonage next to a country church as the minister was retiring and moving away.  The yard was full of everything in the manner of household furnishings and the crowd was small that day.  I have found that a church sale can be good because let’s say if it is at a Lutheran Church, you probably won’t see any Catholics there, and vice versa.  So this limits the crowd.
Well Aunt Lydia is known for loving a bargain and that day she won the bid on a naugahyde recliner that seemed in pretty nice shape.  A little tape over a small tear on one of the arms was enough to make it quite suitable.  And the price was right as the bidding ended at just $5.00.
In addition to the recliner she noticed a sewing machine with a wooden cabinet, in nice shape as well.  It appeared to work, and she always wanted a machine like that.  Lydia didn’t win the bid on it but it went to a man who lived in a little village nearby that she had never met before.
When the man went to load up the sewing machine in his truck Lydia was feeling pretty upset with herself and mustered up the courage to ask him if he would part with it.  He had paid $2.00 for it and she thought maybe if she offered him $5.00. for the machine he’d agree.  And he did.  She was elated to finally have a grand sewing machine like this in her possession after all these years.
Her brother came with a trailer and loaded up the recliner and the sewing machine and took them to his place figuring he’d deliver them to Lydia at a later date.  She asked if his family could use the recliner and his daughter ended up putting it in her store for customers to sit on while they were waiting around.  It was a step up from the old worn out chair that she had sitting there for so long.
Lydia didn’t really know what to do with that sewing machine so kind of forgot about it.  Her brother called her one day and told her he was getting tired of hauling it around in his trailer.  She developed a plan and located the phone number of the man she had bought it from at the auction and gave him a call.  Sure enough he agreed to take that sewing machine off her hands, so her brother drove it over to his place and dropped it off.  As least she had owned one of those dandy machines for a while, and that satisfied her desire!
A year later while attending another country auction Lydia was approached by someone she didn’t really recognize.  She knew immediately who he was when pointed with his hand at a row of furniture in the lineup and said to her, “Looks like there’ll be a sewing machine coming up pretty soon over there.”  She didn’t bid on it, and neither did he.

ANXIETY

Anxiety… keeps you awake at night,

Thinking about things you can’t change,

And dumb stuff that may never happen.

Takes away your appetite or just the opposite.

Stops you from doing things that others think nothing of,

Makes you miss out on life, and never take chances.

Plays with your mind, your body, and soul,

Makes you feel dizzy, sweaty, and out of place.

Needs to be caught,

Stuffed in a jar with a lid screwed on tight,

And stored where no one can find it… without a label.