Recession or no recession, money or no money, for pretty much all of my adult life I've been into thrift stores. I suppose if I'd had all the money I wanted when growing up I never would've had a reason to go to one in the first place, but I've been a regular secondhand shopper for nearly half of my time on the planet. I think it started when my sister Julie got married, and her then-fiance' Halsey told me about a store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I could buy a good used tuxedo--Keezer's. I went, and was blown away. Powder-blue, light gray, white, maroon, long tails, you name it. Of course I got a basic sash collar poly-cotton blend, but I could see that thrift-store shopping is a great way to go.
When I studied in Italy during college, I also got to know several secondhand stores in Rome, and came away with a hideously ugly, green leather trenchcoat, with massive shoulders and a flip-up collar which made me look like a Nazi jackboot. But it was college, and my sense of style was about as fine as my choice of ways to spend my time. (That would be primarily in the basement of a fraternity.) So aside from the green leather trenchcoat (and later a gold lame' tuxedo which I added to my collection), around college I discovered the usefulness of thrift store shopping.
This year, as Kate and I have struggled through the winter on severely reduced means while I look for work, used clothing and other items have become an economic necessity. Thrift stores are almost an exchange mart for baby and toddler clothing, since as a rule the child outgrows the clothing before it wears out. To date we've bought perhaps three pairs of shoes for Eva at retail, but instead dropped $3 to $5 a pair for the used variety. Ditto for jackets and winter clothing.
Kate and I have bought furniture, such as Kate's desk and our couch, from a big used-goods store nearby called Savers. Every few weeks, if we're not out of money, I'll drop by to see if something we're looking for might be there at severly reduced price. Obviously, when shopping used you don't have as much choice as you would at retail. If you're looking for something even moderately specific, you need to be patient and just keep dropping by, and wait to see if something like what you want happens to be on hand. Then, you need to be very thorough in looking the item over, to make sure that it's not defective in some obvious way. The store staff is generally pretty careful about the merchandise they set out for sale, but things like minor rips or burns in clothing can slip through their inspection.
However, it was only recently that I noticed the store's book section. Not that I need any books. I've got a lifetime's library worth of literature, and should I ever have a job again, and should we come to have a decent home, I expect to have a proper library.
Eva's got a library of her own. It's not like mine, though. No Homer or Dante or Joyce or any history or math. No, Eva's library includes titles like "Baby Colors", "Mommy Hugs", "Snuggle Puppy" and "A Very Special Critter". Great books in their way, with illustrations Eva enjoys, and stories she likes to listen to. Since she's learning so many words so quickly now, her ability to listen is improving, and her taste in stories is expanding.
That's good, because I can't tell you how tiresome it gets reading the same three or four books to her every night for months. Even when her selection rotates slowly, it's like listening to the same twenty albums from your youth...until you're 45. After a while you know them too well to even pay attention any more. Maybe Eva's not there with her own books, but I sure am. Dad needs variety. Sometimes I don't care what the baby wants. I need me a little more variety in what I read to her. (I suspect Kate feels much the same, only not so stridently.)
So there's this book section at Savers. I quickly browsed it last week, and found two whole rows of shelves devoted to nothing but children's books. Eureka, I thought, This is how we replenish that library of hers!
Kate's workmates just threw her a baby shower for Fausto, and she was armed with gift cards to Target. I just got a delayed unemployment payment--we'd been surviving without it this past week--and we also got some straight cash for the shower. So I pushed for us to go shopping today, Kate at Target and me at Savers (about a half-mile apart on the commercial strip in Warwick). Since Kate was looking for sandals for Eva--something too specialized to find easily at Savers--she took the baby, and I dove into the books.
Winnie the Pooh, books by Sandra Boynton, Little Critter books (my favorites, aside from the classic Richard Scarry) by Mercer Mayer, and some really excellent Christmas books to stow away--I hit the motherlode today. Seventy cents a volume, so I got twenty books for Eva. Even picked up, since Kate was still busy at Target, a volume of Romantic writing to enjoy over an espresso at Starbucks afterward. As we'd say (and I did) in our Roses and Thorns, my trip to Savers and then Starbucks was unequivocally a rose.
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