Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho

June 19, 2009

I'm taking a break from digging around in all remnants of childhood-toys-forgotten and chapter-books-we have-moved-beyond and clothes-that-fit-us-once-upon-a-time. Yes, my friends, we are gearing up for a big yard sale tomorrow. This is where I throw all of my junk out on the driveway in hopes that someone will find just exactly the thing they've been looking for for months among my discards.

I love yard sales. They remind me of my mother, actually. Not only did we host frequent yard sales, but it was great sport to go out treasure hunting on Saturday mornings. Some Saturdays it was all window shopping (more accurately, perhaps, sidewalk gazing). Other weekends we were giddy, sharing in the joy of the unbelievable find of the day. For several years, if nothing else was happening during the weekend, Mom would map out a route based on all the yard sale ads in the Friday paper. Anyone in the family who was up for it would pile in the van bright and early Saturday morning, and we made a day of it.

After most of my siblings had moved away, Mom still called me up every now and again to see if I wanted to join her on a Saturday outing. When my oldest was pretty little still, she loved to join us, and Grandma would spoil her with almost anything her heart desired. Once, when Brianna was about three, Mom, Bree, and I set out on one of our treasure hunts. These were the days when my daughter was completely in love with all things Disney. She was interested in all of the characters, but especially loved Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She didn't always remember that they were called dwarfs, but she knew that they sang the "Heigh-Ho" song, so she just called them the Heigh-Hos. (I thought it was adorable, of course, so I never corrected her.)

On this particular yard sale kind of morning, Mom had mapped out a route that included an estate sale, because the ad said they were selling a huge collection of Disney memorabilia. We arrived along with a slew of other hopeful shoppers, and we were not disappointed. The entire driveway was covered with Mickeys and Minnies and Goofys and Plutos. Every Disney princess was represented. The owner was, indeed, a true aficionado, and Bree was in 7th heaven. She ran from pillow to figurine to lampshade emblazoned with the inhabitants of the world of Disney. Suddenly, she saw her very favorite characters. She gasped loudly and yelled at the top of her little lungs, "Mommy, I see the Heigh-Hos! I see the Heigh-Hos!!" She was doing a happy dance, tapping on her little tippy toes and clapping her hands together, pure joy on her face. Then, her eyes grew wide and she pointed again and shouted, loudly enough for everyone there to hear, "Mommy! I see the Heigh-Hos, and there's the Big Ho right next to them!!" Mom and I turned to look at the little figure of Snow White, towering above all of her seven Heigh Ho friends, and burst into laughter. We laughed so hard we had tears rolling down our faces, and everyone else who was within earshot was giggling right along with us. I had no way to explain to poor Bree what we were so hysterical about. We finally settled down until I leaned over to my mom and said, "She's right about the Big Ho thing you know. She was living with seven men!"