Growing up, I found it necessary to veer away from the things
that my Mom loved lest I grow up to become identical in personality. Not
that I disapproved of my Mom’s person, but I desired to be my own
individual—classic firstborn independence.
Naturally then, I loathed the various historical field trips, long
ventures to Goodwill, and neutral colored sweaters. Ironically enough, I
found myself taking my Mom to a historical site for her birthday,
telling my husband that I wanted to invest in more neutral sweaters, and
becoming giddy as I anticipate my next trip to Goodwill. Turns out, I’m
a lot more like my Mom than I originally planned on—and
for that, I’m extremely grateful. She taught me to appreciate certain
things in life, specifically the art of thrifting, and as a result
Goodwill is a huge benefactor to my current inspiration and provider of
materials for future projects.
A word on thrifting—it is great.
Where I’m from, people thrive on thrifted
goods. Not necessarily for financial reasons, but also for the beauty of
unique and reusable objects. Granted, the area is lot more “hipster”—so thrifting is essential for random, artsy finds. I define my likes as towing the line between that and classy—or attempting to be—so I suppose you could say that thrifting is “necessary” (my husband might beg to differ).