Humbled By Humanity

I needed to post on this one, and I have before and during pictures for folks.  First, I was amazed when people came from everywhere with donations.  If you have ever seen the TV show "Hoarders", it felt like our house was the current location for the show...We barely had a path through the living room to the back patio.  We ate dinner downstairs for a week.  My sweetie had to park outside.  We had no back patio (couldn't find it under the donations).  I was absolutely floored with the generosity of family, friends, and even strangers.  Here are some photos of our "Hoarding" :

Our kitchen (or what we could still see)

The garage from the kitchen - or what we could see of it

Another view of the garage.  There's a car buried in there.

Looking into the living room

We had to work for this path to get it

Back patio (really?)

Clothing made it all the way out here

Another view of the living room

The few days before, we had some dear friends volunteer to sort things out, (some of the stuff just couldn't be put out there, such as used underwear, broken foo-foo thingies, and similar items).  Their help was invaluable, and once more triggered more humility in looking at people's willingness to do amazing things.  The day of, we were going at 5:30 setting up tables, moving stuff out, and trying to stay on top of things.  A great many people assisted throughout the day, from handling the bartering to organizing.

One yard of the "yard" sale

The other yard of the "yard" sale

almost done, still stuff to be sold

almost done, most furniture had been sold

Amazing results

amazed at how many VHS tapes sold

remaining toys and games went to a
local police/fire department to use
for children who needed them

remaining books went to good will

remaining clothing donated to the homeless shelter

finally, clean up in full gear

We had experiences where people would ask, "How much is that?", to which we would respond with "Just a dollar", and the sale happened with "Here's three."

We had people who pulled up in their SUV's, and said "My husband bought this camp hammock a few years ago, and used it once.  He's 73 years old.  We want you to have it."  Sure, I was floored by perfect strangers and their amazing acts of kindness!  But, to my utter surprise, having someone purchase that camping hammock moments later and walk away muttering under his breath, "I'm still not sure what this is," makes you take a long, hard look at how we perceive people.  Generosity, willingness to sacrifice, help out, and just be amazing is.... well.... amazing!

And, while we were in "full clean up" mode outside, a very dear friend claimed "allergies", and went inside.  We walked into the house to find cupboards and counters cleaned and wiped down, floors swept and vacuumed, and frankly, we had a house again.

To sum it all up, we were first humbled by the generosity of SO many people who donated.  Then, we were humbled by volunteers who helped to sort.  We were later humbled by people buying things they didn't need, didn't want, or didn't even know what those things were.  We were humbled by people walking up and handing checks to us.  Lastly, we were humbled by the long time people spent laboring all day, and then cleaning up.  My sweet wife and I were in tears (I pretend that we were simply exhausted [which we were] and that allergies were getting to me) for hours.  There is no denial that the Grace of God ran rampant in a little neighborhood this past weekend.

We are simply, and purely, humbled.  Thank you!