This past week I hosted a Tag Sale at Hurley House which is an elegant way to say we cleaned out our storage unit and decided to sell a lot of items. As we were planning for the event, a friend from work told me the story of her grandmother hosting epic garage sales that included tablecloths and tea sandwiches.
I could not get the image out of my head.
Tablecloths and tea sandwiches at a garage sale perfectly encapsulate the way I want to live my life. I cannot escape the everyday nature of tasks, but I can choose to elevate them.
Elevating the everyday is not about fussy, braggadocios gestures. It's about imputing dignity and beauty into otherwise mundane or ordinary occurrences. When we elevate something, we remind ourselves and others that beauty is not about perfection. It's about discovery. Beauty calls to parts of us that are hidden underneath layers of efficiency and repetition and reminds us to look again and see what is possible.
The Tag Sale at Hurley House was a success, but more importantly, it was reflective of the idea of elevating the everyday. We spread out white tablecloths, took time to individually tag each item with a cute tag and twine, made a point to artfully arrange everything, and in my own expression of the idea of elevating the everyday, I wore a dress for the occasion.
It was fun to embrace the elegance of an otherwise mundane event and find beauty in the details. Was it necessary? No. But was it delightful? Indeed.
