At the end of last school year I determined that I needed a new shelf for the growing collection of books in my classroom. It became one of many summer goals, and I was pretty disheartened the day before I was to head back into my classroom when I realized that I hadn't yet found my shelf. Not that I hadn't been looking -- thrift stores, porch sales, the as-is section of IKEA -- but nothing was exactly right. So there I was, getting myself geared up to go and buy a NEW shelf at IKEA for more money than I wanted to spend, when I got a text from my friend, Mara, saying she'd just walked past my shelf in someone's trash, and that I'd better hurry. Trash-picking is a bit of a hobby around here and anything good doesn't last, so I threw a shoeless Oscar into the car and drove down the street to check it out. It needed some paint, and some mice had clearly thrown a party in the bottom shelf, but it was solid wood, just the right size, and best of all, free. I threw it in the trunk and headed home, thankful to Mara and the invention of cell phones, and excited about my timely find.
My perfect FREE shelf, just under half-way painted with some leftover paint I found in the basement.
Like new!
And now here it is: my just-what-I-needed shelf for just what I wanted to pay fitting in exactly where I needed it to. Now, how often does that happen?
