I stopped by Goodwill today when I had a little time between appointments. This happens often, and I usually stroll through the glassware and home decor without paying too much attention, focusing instead on books and picture frames. I’m trying to reduce the amount of vintage re-selling I have been buying for, since I’ve been buying more than selling.

Today, I was surprised to see something I recognized sitting on a shelf. It belonged to my daughter, a 19-year-old college student who recently posted a status on Facebook about donating a few boxes of junk and feeling good about cleaning out. When I saw her post I was happy for her, and was able to relate, since I’m also trying to unload a lot of stuff that has been cluttering up my own house. When I saw this sitting on an end-cap… not so much.

My daughters were around 6 and 4, and I was shopping for Christmas presents. Aldi’s always brought in toys ahead of the season, and I found this one for my youngest, who has blonde curly hair. For my oldest, I chose another doll that had straight hair like she does. K also loved fairies, so I was super excited to find dolls that seemed to fit them so perfectly. Little fairy doll had a weirdly short torso, so I cut her in half and extended her body to match her legs and arms better. When I saw her at Goodwill I immediately looked under her dress to be sure. Yep, she had had some surgery.

I stood and looked at her with mixed emotions. On one hand, my daughter doesn’t have room to display her. And let’s be real… does a college student really want to display a china fairy doll? But on the other hand, I am a keeper, and put a lot of emotional value in things like this doll, but I think it’s more special to me because I remember being so excited to find it. We were on a very tight budget when the girls were small, and it was the first “pretty doll” I was able to buy. On Christmas morning it was fun to see them so excited… But in the end, what matters is the memory, not the doll itself. And if some other little girl is thrilled to take her home, that’s pretty cool too. I only considered buying it and keeping it in my own keepsake chest for about 45 seconds. :)

As I kept browsing, I came across a couple of pieces of art that someone made and someone else decided they were done with. I was born into an artistic family, and had a mom who kept almost every piece of paper her kids put a pencil to, so seeing stuff like this makes me a little sad. That said… my sister and I were SO over keeping everything after cleaning out my mom’s house when she died. I decided I’d share them here to let someone else appreciate them. They’re really good, actually.

Hopefully, when I get rid of my kids’ pieces of art, they won’t find them at Goodwill. Well, I know they won’t, because in addition to not inheriting my emotional attachment issues, they also didn’t get my thrift-shopping genes.

Life goes on. :)