Christmas on Polaroid Film

Some of my favorite Polaroids

It was a Saturday afternoon and I happen to be in Grapevine. I saw a house in the middle of the street hidden to the side with a sign that read estate sale. There were no cars I saw a white truck get close as to stop but just kept driving. I got out of the car and went through the garage door that was opened. I went inside and found people talking. They were a few decades older than me. They were talking about what they were going to do with so much stuff still in the house. Cabinets that had not been opened in years. I saw this glass bookshelf in the kitchen filled with cookbooks. I began to look at things on the floor and drawers that still had things in them. I made my way to a room in the back. The room was a huge bathroom with closets. Strange to find closets in the bathroom. To my left his cloths to my right were hers. I like to find unusual things. He loved wrangler shirts and had boxes filled with memories. Her closet had shirts with flowers. I could see how she was his flower. As I'm wandering inside the house from one room to another, I hear them worried about what they were going to do with so many things still in the house. One suggested getting some college kids to help and pay them with money and pizza. When I go to an estate sale, I always leave something behind that I regret not getting. I told myself that I was not going to do that anymore. I had been looking for a cheese grader I know silly right. To my surprise I found one hiding in a top shelf. I've been wanting one to put my earrings on. I'm going to paint this forgotten kitchen ware to place my earrings. He gave it to me for free. As I was leaving, I asked if I could buy a box of photos I had come across. When I went into his closet there were boxes of memories, papers, notes, and photographs. Something that I do in my own home. He asked if I could show him what I was talking about. He followed me and I opened the shoe box and grabbed a box of polaroid film. He gave it to me. I said, "are you sure"? He said he had no use for them, and they would probably end up in the trash. I was a little sad but really excited that he was giving them to me. I like collecting photographs. People I do not know, I try to make out their story in the photos. My parents did not have the money to capture our photos when we were little. I grew a passion for photography. People do not print them as much anymore. I still print mine. Of course, I do not print every single one but at the end of each year I save my most favorite ones and get them printed. I know one day I'll get older, and I'll want to sit and look at them. I liked taking pictures and not knowing what they were until I got them developed. Now in my possession I own a box of twenty-six polaroid film photos of strangers I've never met. As I'm looking through them, I start recognizing the things I happen to see from that day I stepped foot in that house. I remember the fireplace, the couch, the end table. Some decades later the photos I'm looking at are people in the same living room opening their Christmas presents. On Christmas day 2021 I would be in my living room looking at their photos. They never would have known a person like me would be in their living room. It is just a story but not just any story It is my version of a Christmas story. 

Merry Christmas, Gabriela

Pick n Pull

 Today I carried my Pa's tool box.

It was during the week that I had a craving for some Chinese food. There is this place in Irving I like to go, to bring some home. I save my fortune cookie to eat it later.  A while later I'm looking for my cookie. I could not find my cookie. I retraced my steps. I knew I had seen it but did not remember where I had placed it. Turns out I had thrown it away. Yes I decided to look in my trash and there it was still in its wrapper. I said to myself, how could I have thrown my fortune away. I opened it up and it read "you will do something different this weekend". I kept it like I keep all my fortunes. Just so you know fortunes are never true or actually happen it's just a fun thing to read. Almost like getting a fortune that belongs to someone else in this universe or just a pick me up note that needed to be read that day. 

It was nearing the weekend and I had that fortune still in my head. I kept thinking what if anything indeed happened this weekend that would be out of my norm. 

A while back my dad had been wanting to go to the Pick n Pull. The Pick n Pull you ask? It's a place where cars end up after they no longer have life. Cars that no longer are drivable end up in a place called Pick n Pull. You search for body parts that you need by picking a car and pulling the parts from it to replace them on your car. It's also a sad reality to think that these cars end here because of accidents. 

When I was little my dad would take me with him. I do not remember if I liked going or if I went because my dad was going. All I remember was that I liked to explore. It was like a playground for me. I used to go a lot with my dad. It was the cheapest way to find parts for his vehicles. As I got older I stopped going with him. 

Forward a few years later in life my close friend turned out to be a mechanic. I became that friend that would accompany him. As he picked parts I would wander around looking for things that amused me. I was an adult feeling like a kid again. I started going with him almost every month.  

On my unplanned weekend I called my dad and said "Pa you want to go to the Pick n Pull?" By the time I got to the house he had his tool box ready. The last time I had gone to the Pick n Pull was over a year ago. I'm going to go ahead and tell you that I was more excited than usual to go. It's not a place for children and not a place for women. If you have ever gone to a Pick n Pull then you can see It's not a safe place for children and it does not have a woman's vibe. There is an entrance fee but because I'm a lady I got in free. I laughed a little inside when he said ladies get in for free. It felt like the times the ladies get in for free at the club. We wandered up and down left and right till we found what we were looking for. We hit the car part jackpot it felt like the car was there waiting on us.

The years are catching up with my Pa. He does not carry the same strength as when I was little. As he would stop I would walk around to see what I could find. I do not know if he ever lost me when I went with him when I was a little girl. Now a grown woman calling out for my Pa because I lost him. 

You would be surprised with the things you find at a place like this. Since I like taking photos it has a totally different meaning for me. When I would go with my friend he noticed I would take pictures and there would be times I think he would take me so that I could explore. My Pa would take me so that he would have company. 

I guess you could say that for once my fortune cookie came to be true. It's a place out of the norm that I ended going to this weekend. I try to keep memories like this with me. When I would go with my friend it reminded me of when I was little. Reminded me the times I would go with my messy hair and come home with my dirty grease hands.  

When it's time to leave you go to the front desk to pay for your car part. What made this an awesome visit was the person at the desk let us have the part for free. Crazy to think about the things that bring me joy. Maybe fortunes in a cookie are meant for oneself to make them happen. 

Music Man

I had gone to my parents house late in the afternoon. I was pulling up to the driveway when both were getting out of their car. I question them like if I was the parent. I ask where they had been, how they be running the streets instead of being home? They had came from an estate sale down the street. They asked if I wanted to go? I mentioned if they would want to go again since they just left. They without hesitation got back in the car and drove back to the home. It was a house hidden down a hill. In all the years that my parents have lived in their home I had never been down this street. I walked in and the first thing that caught my eyes was a box of  vinyl records. I was going through them when a lady approached me and asked if I liked records? I told her that I've always liked having one or two. Strange how they are coming back to life. She stepped away for a few seconds came back and said if I give her a few minutes there was a box of old ones in the shed. She had called her son to see where they had remembered they saw them in the home. As I looked through the house I could tell it had belong to a man, no sign of woman belongings. He was a military man. He had his military gear through out the home. I was standing in the living room with  a brown couch with yellow carpet. If you went to the back yard it was like stepping into a forest. You couldn't see where the backyard ended. Trees and bushes filled the back of the house. I could picture an old man enjoying coffee early mornings just seeing nature come to life as the sun came up. A breath of fresh air. They found the container of old records and brought it in the the living room and asked me to go through them to see which ones might catch my eye. He had small ones in a tin box. The kind of tin box used to carry tools in. I went through them but didn't recognize any of the names. Old sheets of music that if you touched them the ink would be erased. It would become lost music. I realized not only was he a military man but he loved to square dance. Most of the records in that box were of square dancing. I know he had a love once because his daughter was the one now selling his things. As I was about to leave I saw an instrument that looked like an old guitar. I'd never seen one like this before. It was made out of wood and the strings were metal like fork prongs that came up from the guitar. If played you would place it on your lap and fling the prongs towards you to play music. I asked how much it was? The guy married to the daughter told me it was a rare vintage instrument. I wanted it for that reason. Just something cool to have. I didn't buy it, I regret not getting it. A few months later I saw it in a documentary. It was being played in the film. A family in Asia was sitting in a circle on the floor and the daughter was playing the instrument. It made sense now how a man in the United States was probably stationed in the military over seas and had brought it home. Had I bought it when I had the chance it would have a different meaning to the instruments story. We tend to hold on to things that have meaning. Here was a man that really just enjoyed music. I'll call him the music man.

This was the day I came home with The Johnny Cash Show vinyl. It was the only thing I bought. A vinyl that will remind me of the music man I never had the opportunity to meet. 

Finding Gloves on New Years Day

• It was the very first day of the year and I was on my way to Arkansas. The drive was nice and calm I could feel the gears shifting driving between the mountains. Fog filled the air. The plan was to check out The Crystal Cloudscape at The Momentary Museum. I drove checked into the hotel then headed over to the museum. I wanted to go in December but I got sick and the last day to see the exhibit was January the third. I wanted to see the museum but honestly it was to get away. To go for a drive to a designated destination. I couldn't travel last year because of the pandemic. So decided to plan this last minute trip to start off my year. While others were celebrating this day with family I was in a place where no one would know me. I'm always surrounded by kind people. At the museum the tour guide began talking to me of course I told her I had traveled five hours to get on this yellow ladder to see the garden

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• She began telling me where I should eat but from my excitement I forgot. I asked her if it was walking distance so that I could explore more but considering it was already dark and getting late she suggested I drive. Once I left the museum I googled a place to eat. It took me to a restaurant in their downtown square. I choose the cheeseburger I mean why not. I had other waiters come by my table to say Happy New Years to me. I know I looked out of place. I was the one that looked native and the one that drinks coffee with their cheeseburger. My waitress gave me a coffee to go. It was nearing eight and I went for a walk. As I began to walk I spotted some gloves on a bench next to them was a wrapped gift. The gloves were new still had the tags. I thought maybe someone left them there by accident. I walked the whole square even went to a Wal-Mart right on the square. I had not realized I was in Bentonville, Arkansas. How crazy to have it there but the Sam Walton museum was just a few feet away. As I was heading back to my car I saw another gift hanging from a pole. Once I saw the second one I felt like if they were for me to find. I didn't spend Christmas with my family. I still didn't pick either gift. I left them there for someone else that might have needed them. At that moment I realized I didn't get a present this Christmas it felt different and even though I wanted to be nosey and see what was inside the wrapping I felt that there was someone else that might have needed them the most.

I felt good knowing that there are kind people that actually leave small gifts for people that might bring them some joy. It was really cold that day those gloves would have come in handy for someone. I thank God for Google Maps. On my way back home the next day it took me through the country side of Arkansas a place hidden from the city life. It reminded me of the roads traveled through Mexico. I saw some abandoned falling down old homes. I wondered at times why I traveled though this road. Soon it started to snow. As snow was falling it gave it a different feeling on this country road. Seeing the white fall on the trees that lead to the woods. It was a feeling I couldn't explain. Reminded me of something my dad said right before I left. I called my dad the morning first of January the year twenty-twenty one to tell him of where I was going. He said if it shows signs of snow turn around and come back home

               ..Here the day it actually was snowing I was coming back home.