A 50 Cent Blouse...Worth a Million Bucks

I had a garage sale at my house yesterday. We live in a large neighborhood that is divided into two sections. The group of houses back behind me is occupied by a large population of Russian folks. I see the women walking in the area in their plain attire of long black skirts and modest tops - always with smiles on their faces.

One of those ladies came by my garage sale with a friend and bought a few blouses I had for sale. One of the blouses was quite loud - black and orange tiger stripe for 50 cents. I didn't think anything of it at the time. I didn't really pay attention to what she bought. She had been to the last garage sale I had a few years ago. I remembered her face.

After a few hours, just as we were contemplating closing up shop, this woman came back. Her husband stopped their car in front of our house and she jumped out. The minute I saw her my heart leaped. She had on that loud black and orange blouse! Not only that, but her smile was as big as it could get.

She trotted over to the clothes that were left hanging on a rack and picked out a couple more of them. As she approached me and my family sitting there, she grinned again and paid me for the new items. She held out her arms to her side and then in broken English she said something like "see, I bought this from you." The joy on her face left me nearly speechless. All I could say was "it looks very nice on you." It was as if she couldn't wait to show me.

My husband brought the incident up to me again this morning. He said "it doesn't take much to impress some people, does it?" At that moment I envied the little lady her enthusiasm for such a small thing. I had to ask myself when was the last time I took such pleasure in something so seemingly unimportant.

It was an unattractive blouse - that's why I got rid of it. But on her it looked marvelous.

I'll be thinking of that woman today. I'll try to be thankful for the little things and not be ashamed to show it.

What will you "wear" today that will give you such joy? Keep it simple - maybe 50 cents worth.