Van Go- Yooo!

Family

Van Go- Yooo!

By the time Mom and Dad finished their summer sales trips of craft shows, from town to town, it was time for a break, but not a break from work. This was the time to clean up and/or repair any object purchased during the summer (vacation) trips. Mom did most of the work, unless she needed help with a larger collectible piece. Mom always seemed to know what she would do with a piece, maybe even before she paid the price for it. So, now was the time Mom was busy doing her thing, and Dad was doing his thing—reading.

He had an unlimited supply of choices.

A country library was cleaning out many of their old, already-read books by the local readers, because of a large donation of newer books. People could take their time and look through each box of the old books to find the right ones for them, or they could take a whole box, without even looking at any in the box. You could tell that the library needed the room for the new books.

Mom and Dad hadn’t gotten there for the start of the giveaway, so instead of going and taking the time to sort through and only take the desired books, Mom and Dad decided to take a whole box of books. That pleased the librarian so much, she then suggested that they could just as well take all the rest of the boxes also. You could tell that people were not taking many of the old books in the boxes and were probably wanting to get a chance for first pick to check out some of the newer books that had been recently stocked on the shelves.

Mom and Dad were always the helpful type, so they replied, “Why not?”

With that, Mom and Dad had some extra help carrying the small boxes filled with the old, unwanted books to the Van and got ready to Go home. Mom was already thinking about where to put the boxes so they would be convenient for Dad to look through to find a book to read.

The downstairs rooms, called the front room and the piano room, were Mom’s small store. They were filled with things she had made, things she had bought at garage sales, things she had repaired, and even things other people gave to her to help her ‘fill up the space” in the two rooms. They all had a price tag, and she valued the time she worked on any project. She had left a winding path through her work, but it still took people a long time if they really looked at the many items arranged in those two rooms of her little “home store.” It was like an antique museum of old things that people would now just throw away.

Her “little home store” is, in itself, another story. Maybe later. (I wonder if I have any pictures)

The upstairs rooms were where my younger brothers and sisters had had their bedrooms, but they were all gone now, and would, of course, come back for visits, and hopefully, take more of their things. This meant a clear pathway to the beds, but other spaces could be storage areas of future projects or unfinished projects waiting for the time and energy to finish them, someday soon.

But the stairway upstairs was wide enough to safely place a box of books on each step, and the doorway was close to Dad’s chair. Problem solve. Discussion ended. That is where the boxes still sat when I returned once for a visit.

Well, I see we got Mom and Dad home with the boxes of books, the books are safely stowed away, while Mom and Dad are busy doing their thing, but the cold weather is coming, and what will happen then? Will the Van Go?

Maybe there is “the rest of this story.” Invite your friends to read these stories by forwarding each story to them. Your friends can read, can’t they?

Thank you for reading. Suggestions are welcome: email: rockhead2u@comcast.net

written 5/24/2026

Larry E. Whittington