Sign of the times?

Mrs. Kwazy and I got some new bedroom furniture a few weeks ago.  The some of the stuff in the master went to the guest room.  Some of the stuff we just didn't need outright.  We ended up needing to part with two garage sale dressers the wife bought for $20 seven years ago, the metal bed frame and two twin box springs from our king-size bed (we bought a platform frame I didn't need them anymore), a three-legged particle board accent stool, and a 25" RCA tube TV that's probably eight years old if it's a day.

The stuff's been taking up one side of the garage, so I've been under the gun to sell it, donate it, or give it away.  This morning I took a picture of it and posted it on craigs list with a description of the stuff and offered it free to the first takers.

I received 22 email inquiries in less than half an hour.

Most of the people didn't mention why they wanted the things, but several letters were quite sad.  One man had recently lost his job and had only two beds to share between him, his wife, and their three children.  Another woman recently lost everything in a house fire.  It was a rented house, and she had no insurance.  One of happier stories involved a couple who've been trying to adopt internationally and were finally bringing their new son home from Russia, but were strapped for cash due to a job loss and travel expenses.

I left the ad up, but amended the title and descriptions to say everything was spoken for, and if you were a taker or a runner up I would return your email directly, and if you were a first-time viewer of the listing you were basically out of luck.  Since then I've gotten three more requests from new people to put them on the list anyway, even though they know they're not likely to get anything.

Fortunately my family has not been that impacted by the current recession, but this experience really brought to light just how many people have.  Regardless of your political orientation, let's hope our new President and Congress get us rolling again...and soon.

Take care of each other.

Kwazy