too much love

Ever take the opportunity to have a nice long weekend? Yeah, not exactly a full 3-day weekend, but kinda close. We ate dinner out after work Friday night and then Saturday morning got up and packed our kiddos to ship them off to their summer camp. 

My husband convinced me to stay in a hotel in a small town close to the camp the night before they were supposed to “check in” by luring me there with the promise of antique shopping. And he delivered! 

Learned a lesson: YOU CAN LOVE YOUR WORK TOO MUCH. 

When I antique shop, I like to think of myself as treasure hunting. I met a couple of owners that seemed SO caught up in their antiques, that they really didn’t intend to sell any. When I walked into one shop - there was SO MUCH stuff (all AMAZING finds, btw) and it was all incredibly overpriced - I knew that I would probably not buy much. The owner was nice to me. Almost seemed a little too nice, but honestly - I think he was just very happy to have someone in his store (I was the only customer on a Saturday). 

There were so many items: rows and rows of furniture, filled with china and unusual odds and ends. One his of rooms (there were three large rooms in this shop) had the blue and white china hung all over each wall (serious collector). He had lamps and light fixtures; art and old figurines. He was INTO this. I asked where he had accumulated his inventory from and his answer was simple: everyone and everywhere. He offered to come and buy items from me, but I had not mentioned wanting to sell anything (I’m still accumulating). 

Then he said the strangest thing in the saddest voice possible: “You want to buy me out?”

Nope. 

He confessed that he had 5 other storage buildings just as full as this shop (and I COMPLETELY believe him). Ultimately, I did buy a hand-painted Italian dish from him (didn’t cost very much, but is VERY lovely!!), and I would have possibly asked to buy more, but it was all so overpriced and quite frankly, difficult to reach (or see very clearly) for all of the items piled on top of each other.

I felt like I had crashed a high-end hoarder. 

My life lesson from this is: yes, you can love your work too much. (That was his reason for all of his inventory.) If he would lower his prices and space his inventory out some, so people can actually shop, his shop would be so busy! But he won’t. He likes his things and is looking to buy more (not sell more).

It was a sad sight and one that could make me a fan of (gulp) more modern design!

After this weekend, I’m feeling the need to purge and live a simple, sparse existence.