Everybody who knows me knows how much I love shopping at Goodwill.
I’m the person who gleefully replies, “Thanks! I got it at Goodwill” whenever somebody complements a cute shirt I’m wearing.
A whole lot of the furniture and home decor items in my house came from Goodwill.
And I can’t go an entire shopping trip at Goodwill without sending at least one text to somebody I love with a picture of something fabulous and message like “Hey! Do you want this?”
Yes, I love all of the wonderful things I find at Goodwill. But as I was shopping at the Hayfield, Va. store the other day, I realized something. It isn’t all about the things I find at Goodwill. That’s just stuff.
It’s about the people who create the good vibes I enjoy when I shop there. That’s what makes shopping at Goodwill special.
For example, I found a piece of mass-produced artwork that was just meh to me. But I thought the frame around it was beautiful. What if I painted over those drab flowers with my own artwork? That would be less expensive than buying a new canvas and trying to find a stunning frame for it. I wasn’t sure if I could create something good enough on my own, but I put the artwork in my shopping cart anyway. For $24, I was willing to give it a try.
It’s hard to tell from this picture, but the frame is about three feet across. I jammed it into my cart, but it blocked my vision. When I came around the corner, I nearly collided with another shopper and his cart.
“That’s a beautiful frame,” he said.
We chatted about the artwork and he asked me what I was going to do with it. I told him my plan.
“Oh! You’re an artist!” he exclaimed.
“Well, not really,” I replied. “I just like to paint things.”
Note to self: That’s what artists do. Claim it! 🙂
“You’ll make it more vibrant and colorful,” he said. “I can see it now. It’s beautiful!”
That kind man’s words were the boost of encouragement I needed that day. I’m so happy I (almost literally) ran into him.
He wasn’t the only kind shopper I encountered that day.
As I was rounding another corner to look at clothing, my purse somehow got caught on a clothes hangar and stopped me in my tracks.
A kind lady looking at dresses helped untangle me.
“There must be something really good right here for you to get stopped like that,” she said.
It turns out she was partially correct. I did find something really good — but not for me. As we were browsing and chatting, she told me she was looking for summery dresses for an upcoming vacation in Virginia Beach.
“Something like this?” I asked and handed her a dress with beautiful tropical flowers I found on my side of the aisle.
“Yes!” she said. “Wait. Don’t you want it?”
“I’m not heading to the beach. You are! This is perfect.”
It was so perfect, she said she actually had a similar dress in her Amazon cart. But she wanted to check at Goodwill first before purchasing new.
“We are keeping stuff out of the landfill today,” she said as she put the dress in her Goodwill cart.
That’s it! All of it. Keeping stuff out of landfills. Finding inexpensive items to experiment with new creative ideas. Knowing my purchases are helping to fund education and career opportunities for people in our community.
And chatting with some amazing people.
I get so much good stuff at Goodwill — and good vibes too!
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