You'll probably appreciate this story. When my youngest (now 6) was less than two months old, we took the family to the beach for Spring break. We didn't want to drive all the way to Florida, so we tried for Hilton Head. Couldn't get in there, so we wound up on Edisto Island in a nice timeshare.
The resort was great, but I found myself really missing my rocking chair. I hadn't considered that and the baby didn't really care, but I did.
Early in the week we were driving around and saw one of those porch type rocking chairs on the curb with the trash. It had a badly broken arm. I had my older son (11 at the time) go knock on the door and ask if we might take the chair. No-one was home, so we lifted it.
DH, who is amazing with wood and was making a career of repairing antiques at the time, of course had no tools or wood to repair the chair with. He went down the street from our resort to a building that was under construction and struck up a conversation with the workers there. They gave him a piece of wood and cut it to the proper size for him. He then found the resort maintenance man and ask for tools and fixtures to put the arm on the chair.
Within a couple of hours, I had my rocking chair. It was just a cheap chair that wasn't all that comfortable, but the sentimental value is priceless. It still sits on the porch at home.
We are such scavengers! This June, we were on Nantucket for a short vacation. We didn't take our car over on the ferry, but borrowed one from a friend. One day while we were driving around, I spotted an oak wash stand in a driveway with a FREE sign on it. I made DH turn the car around and we went back and got it. One of the doors was broken, but we brought it home and DH fixed it up for my daughter's new apartment. Again, the piece is not that spectacular, but the sentimental value is wonderful.
You brought back happy memories for me, so I just had to share.
Sheila
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