When it's time to let go...

The vintage items we've had available so far have all been things from our own lives, not stuff we pick up at sales or from dealers or vendors. Not that there's anything wrong with that! Clearly, keeping things in circulation instead of landfills is the main goal, no matter where they come from.

But I don't think any are as personal as the item we sold today. My dad, collective member Terry Detrick, gave me his old wedding band over fifteen years ago. The marriage itself was awful, so there was no sentimental value to keeping it for that reason. It was too large for me to wear myself of course (and doesn't fit my own husband, collective member Paul Clark, either), but I didn't want to have it sized down.

See, that's the ring I remember looking up at when I grabbed my dad's finger to walk across the street when I was a preschooler. It was like Polaris to me then, and there was a part of me that didn't want to let it go.

But North Stars aren't meant to be kept in jewelry boxes, and as I've let go of so much of the past over the years, I knew this year that it was time to find a new home for that ring, too, where it could have a new life just like me.

Etsy was the perfect place, because I know people who shop there care about respecting the past, but also protecting the future, and not allowing beautiful things to waste away.

I knew someone would see how awesome this ring was for their *own* reasons, and it didn't surprise me that it was consistently the most viewed and "hearted" item in our shop. It's got a lot of love in it left to give, and people could sense it!

Today, it's got a new owner. I'm a little misty as I get ready to ship it out, but it's in a good way. I'm so glad to have this avenue not just to keep a shop, but to connect the past with the future, with amazing people as the conduit.