Want to take a trip to the past, find your favorite memories? Rediscover the fun and adventure you shared with your family and friends a few—or many—years ago? Since I am an author of memoirs, actually two books of memoirs, The Wishing Years and A Tree Grows in Trout Creek, recollecting my life stories is what I do just about every day. Weekdays, I write from my office in Michigan, the stories of my and my family and friends’ youthful experiences.
But on weekends, my husband and I take a break from our work and take shorts trips away from home to exciting and wondrous places known as antique malls, flea markets and, yes, garage sales. Here, we continue our travels back in time, searching for any item that evokes dreams of another era, another story, another memoir to write about.
Our motto is: “You never know what you might find!” as we search the sales for treasures. While my husband Jim, who works in The Henry Ford, Greenfield Village Round House, looks for such items as old railroad books, odd tools and motorcycle magazines from the past, I look for anything that strikes longing in my heart. That anything might be an old floral feed sack from the 1940’s, a “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” party game from the 1950’s or it could be a family cookbook put together by the good church ladies of Iowa Falls in 1959. None of these items are expensive in dollars and cents but, to me the memory seeker, are worth a fortune in riches for reminiscing.
Each item has a story for me to tell, a connection to a memory of someone or someplace or some special event that has long gone the way of forgetfulness. Either Jim or I remember our mothers making clothes out of feed sacks; playing the donkey game at a friend’s birthday party when we were kids, or the enjoyment of good old-fashioned hometown food as discovered in the 1959 cookbook. We share stories, sail on down the road to another favorite flea market and let the sun shine on our day.
There are many antique malls available throughout our wonderful countryside and you can find one or more near you. Since we live only an hour from Ohio and the many treasured haunts there, we often travel down U.S. Highway 23 to Maumee, Ohio, 1552 S. Reynolds Road, where one of the largest and best offerings of collectibles is located. With over 120,000 square feet of antiques, and over 300 booths and showcases, one can spend an entire day going from booth to booth, stopping briefly from time to time at the little lunch counter for a snack or two. While, not everyone can take a ride down to Maumee at the drop of a hat, the good news is that very soon the online shopping feature of their website: www.maumeeantiquemall.com will be available to all.
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