My Antiquing Hobby: I Joined an Antique Foster Program and Made a New Friend…
There is a distinct, highly specific kind of unexpected joy driving home from a work commitment and suddenly deciding that one of your favorite hobbies can be fulfilled because A. my nice camera is in the car and B. there’s no tiny human in the car to object from the back seat.
The Barn Door Antiques, Gumboro, DE
I squealed into the Barn Door parking lot, after abruptly cutting off hubby mid-chat since it was open on a day that I was driving by. Honestly, if you haven’t spent an afternoon wandering around looking at things people discarded from 1942, are you even living? It’s basically a museum where you’re legally allowed to touch the exhibits and bring them home to crowd your shelves and narrate your own story about its origins.
Vintage mid-century hospital used for railroad layouts in hobby dioramas.
I ran into Cindy while I was there be-bopping back and forth. I asked for permission, because some places CAN be iffy about taking photographs. She, after talking, is officially my favorite kind of human. We spent an alarming amount of time bonding over our completely quirky, highly specific mutual love for birds and trees.
Vintage Kodak camera at Barn Door Antiques in Gumboro, DE
By the time we finished discussing wood grains and avian aesthetics, I’m pretty sure we were practically exchanging friendship bracelets.
I walked away having found a brand new friend, a newly deepened obsession with all things antique, and a profound appreciation for all the secret, slightly dusty stories that live among these objects while they’re just hanging out in their temporary foster homes before coming to live with me.
Spices rack by The Griffiths Laboratories, Chicago, IL at Gumboro, DE
Final thought, so let’s be honest: we don't really just buy antiques. They come home to an extremely temporary, heavily judged foster parent (the spouse). Ha. But the journey to get them there is so fascinating and we only know a glimmer of what lies in it’s original path.
Huh, it’s kinda the same about us, right?