December at Experienced Goods
By Jennie Reichman
Once upon a time there was a thrift store in a small town in a small, rural state where there were as many dirt roads as paved ones and people smiled and said hello to those they passed, even if they didn’t know each other. The thrift store raised money for an organization called Center for Solace, which provided support for people facing health challenges or terminal illness, and those who loved and cared for them. The store was famous for many miles around, not just for its noble mission, but because it was filled to the brim with beautiful secondhand things to buy at unbelievably low prices, all arranged in such an artful and pleasing way that some people came in just to admire the displays. Few people could resist buying something, however. Racks of carefully curated clothing, cases filled with sparkling jewelry, shelves stocked with useful housewares and linens, books to improve or entertain the mind, toys for children of all ages. All who walked through the doors of the thrift store agreed: The place was magical; the very thing you had been looking for (and a few you didn’t know you needed) might appear before your eyes as you shopped, filling you with wonder and joy.
The magic was partly the doing of the talented employees and volunteers at the store. They were artists and musicians, builders and crafters, bakers and stewards of the land. “Misfits! Pirates!” they called themselves, but really they were sorcerers, imbuing the very air of the store with spells of delight. But there were other beings at work at the store as well, invisible most of the time except for the occasional flash of movement you might see out of the corner of your eye, a filmy wisp of elfin gauze shimmering between the clothing racks, a giggle behind your left ear as you tried on shoes. The favorite time of the year for these ephemeral sprites was what humans called The Holidays, a season of lights to dispel the darkness, of beauty and cheer. But they were also a bit sad. They loved to celebrate and bring joy to the humans, but they also wanted to be visible, to be seen for the playful, creative creatures they are.
So they planted an idea in the heads of the employees: Fill a store window with fairy houses made of bark and moss, berries and bottle caps, beads and buttons and fragrant pine boughs. Decorate two other windows with a circus of the imagination, birds and clowns and wondrous tiny machines, a festival of miniature celebration. Let all who pass by enter the world of the small, invisible ones who exist to distract you from your worries and make you believe in magic.
And so the employees and volunteers did just that. They worked night and day to construct the houses and animate the circus, the fairies and sprites and all the other energies whispering in their ears and guiding their hands as they worked. When they were finished, the sounds of jubilation were so loud, you could almost hear them if you stood very still in the middle of the store in the dark.
All of us at Experienced Goods (and the sprites and fairies and magical entities) would love you to come by and see these wondrous works of art envisioned and constructed by Gemma, Emma, Karen, Eric, Joan, Albert and Imelda. As we enter the coldest and darkest time of the year, may you be warm, well fed, loved and loving. May you have what you need and much more, and may you find magic every day.