Reading The Signs

Starting over scary.

Each day I hesitantly walk out into this new life that I'm creating for myself, desperately afraid that I'm going to fail. That I won't be able to make it on my own. I don't even have a job yet, how am I going to support myself?

I try to take comfort in the small things, like meeting my new neighbors, taking walks along the shore, and exploring the local shops.

Today, during one of my quit-feeling-sorry-for-yourself-and-go-do-something days, I found the most wonderful shop. I'm not sure what the name of it is, so I'll just call it the Odds & Ends Emporium.

Inside this store is an unimagined treasure trove of stuff, all tossed together in some vague order, that must only make sense to the eccentric mind that created it. The first thing to greet my eyes as I walked into the store was a display of scarves with a sign that read "Scarves Mostly $2.29. Some not." For some reason this strikes me as terribly funny. It's a sign with an attitude! And it pretty much sets the tone for the whole store.

There are neon colored feather boa's (no - really) hanging from the ceiling next to assorted house plants. Candles mixed in with baskets and little plastic holders for Beanie Baby tags next to incense burners. I never knew that Beanie Baby tags needed plastic holders but at 29 cents I was tempted to buy one, even though I don't own any Beanie Babies!

Various hand written signs were hung from wires and tacked to shelves. One sign admonished customers with "Don't take these hats. Take the ones from the other shelf." Another sign preempted questions by stating, "NO! There Are NO MORE In Back". No more of what, I'm not sure.

An entire row was devoted to toys and party favors, the likes of which I haven't seen since I was a child. And have you tried to find a toy gun at Toy-R-Us these days? Not gonna happen. But they have them at the Odds & Ends Emporium. There were oddles of tiny plastic trickets tossed about in bins, and nearby hung another of the ubiquitous signs, this one saying "No Pinata Stuffing". Who would dare?

I'm sure that the pricing makes sense to someone but I was mystified. I found the cutest little oil burner for just $2.00, but a wonderfully tacky beaded curtain was priced at a whopping $60.00. Bamboo poles for $1.29 fought for attention with greeting cards for $8.00, and a fine layer of dust coated everything.

But my favorite part of the Odds & Ends Emporium was a sign that hung above the checkout stand that encouraged shoppers to place their chosen houseplants on the hooks overhead.

It read "You can do it. Just reach higher".