A Strange, True Tale
and some moments of joy.
Hi! As I’m taking a pause from writing full-fledged essays for the remainder of August, today’s issue is more of a potpourri, featuring a strange (true) tale and some glimmers of joy, along with the weekly card. I hope you enjoy it.
My phone’s “on this day…” function has a knack for pulling up bittersweet moments, especially during this season of grief. But this week, it served me an all-but-forgotten memory so bizarre I simply had to share it.
Six years ago today, I was on a walk with my friend Anne when we came across a handmade sign advertising an estate sale. It was scrawled on a piece of brown cardboard and tied to the home’s front banister, along with a few primary color balloons.
(In hindsight, the balloons should’ve tipped us off on what was to come, but they looked innocuous enough.)
As two writers with magpie tendencies, we’d never turn down the opportunity to snoop through someone’s treasures (and the stories this can inspire). So we marched up the stoop and through the front door.
At the time, I might’ve told you that almost nothing could surprise me. I’d lived in NYC for years and witnessed countless odd, amazing, and disturbing things. And yet, this was wholly unexpected.
We blinked, trying to make sense of the scene.