A sad post without an accompanying photo, and soon you will know why

A few weeks ago, I was filling a bag with old clothes to drop into one of those Salvation Army donation bins, and to make a long story short, I accidentally donated my favourite shorts away. I realized the mistake the next day, so I went into the store to ask about them. I was able to track down a sweater I had donated, but the shorts were already gone. (Live and learn, I suppose.) The silver lining was that while in the store, I saw a gorgeous old antique dresser. It was an ugly shade of blue but it had pretty turned legs and delicate glass knobs. It was exactly what I have been searching for for Mallory’s room for the longest time – I would paint it white, and hang a mirror I already have over it, and it would be perfect. Then I discovered that it wasn’t for sale; it was for a charity auction the Sally Ann was running, which closed yesterday.

Over the past few weeks I stopped in the store repeatedly to see how high the silent bids on the dresser had climbed, and it was only at $37 last time I went in… until the silent auction closed, followed by verbal bidding on the items. I thought my chances of getting it were good, thinking it had gone relatively undetected, until I pulled into the parking lot and couldn’t even get a space to park ten minutes before the auction started. And when I went in the store, there were two women both getting ready to bid on it. *sigh*

I wound up not getting the dresser, dropping out of the bidding when it hit the $160 mark. One of the women quit around $75 and the other one got it. She had a baby girl with her, not much younger than Mallory, and she was telling the other woman who didn’t get it that she was going to paint it white and put it in her little girl’s room. It could have been me… but it wasn’t. And now, I am totally kicking myself for not going higher. Do I think it was worth $160? No, but I wanted it. Yes, it was a little rickety, and the drawers smelled a little musty, but it was just. So. PERFECT. So charming and cute. I thought it was destiny that I'd found it in the first place, and that getting it would make up for the loss of my favourite shorts. And who knows when I will find another one like it.

Hopefully, soon. Next weekend, a friend and I are heading up to the Grand Bend flea market. Whose-ever (is that a word? :) ) vehicle we wind up taking, we’ll strip out the back seats and leave as much cargo room as possible. Momma needs a dresser for her baby, and it might be my chance to rebound and find one.