Dashiell and his binky, BFF!

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My First Dictionary is deliciously subversive – Disney meets Dennis Miller.  Chris may be unpleasantly surprised at the reading material Dashiell gets for his birthday in a year or two.

We went to a garage sale on Friday, looking for a canoe.  The canoe had sold (for a song, darn it – $85 including paddles and life jackets *dooh*), but we scored a used and somewhat beat up Baby Jogger II for a mere $25.  It was a bit grungy and the brake had seized, but it was obviously a quality piece of equipment, that would retail for $400 or more new.   After getting it home, I restored it via the straight-forward process of rebuilding the brake and axles, running the canvas seat through the washer, and replacing the rather chewed up grips (using a homebrew wrap of bicycle innertube).  Dashiell, Roni, and I took it out for a run yesterday morning and it works like a charm.

I think this is why I enjoy garage sales as much as I do.  It’s not so much about saving money as it is about finding quality items that go unappreciated and ignored.  The feeling that comes after taking something like this home, reducing to it’s component parts, and then resurrecting it piece by piece simply can’t be bought.  I know this stroller in a way few $500-stroller-toting-parents ever will.  There is an intimacy there that affects how I feel when using this thing; it gives it a warmth and friendliness that is hard to explain.  It will never have the shine of a new stroller, but its patina of scratches and stains are a comforting reminder of the innate sturdiness and longevity we can expect, and for which I am partly responsible.