For the last year, my dad has been saying that he really wants to clean house, which is good because my parents' house is filled with all kinds of "treasures." It's gotten so bad in some areas that you have to carefully walk around piles of stuff in order to get from one place to another, with the fear that one of those piles will snatch you up and swallow you whole.He constantly talked of having an auction, kind of like my grandmother and grandfather did in the 1980's, where my sisters and I would bid on items. In my dad's mind it was perfect because he would get rid of all these items he had collected and we would get things that we really wanted (be they family items or just garage sale junk).
Robinson, who loves to tease my dad about all kinds of things, made Sampsonbucks for him last Christmas, picking certain family members to go on various bills. Josh was on the one, Molly was on the five, Balin was on the 10, Dad was on the 20, and Grandma Sampson was on the 50. Dad was thrilled and told everyone that the next time we were all together, we must have an auction.My sisters and I were less certain of an action, but we all agreed on one thing: everything must be bid on whether we wanted it or not. If we wanted it, we'd fight to the death to claim it, but if not it would come home with us anyway and we'd get rid of it later. We made sure that if someone really wanted an item, we'd let them take it, but if there was indeed something of value (which happened a few times), then we'd bid like there was no tomorrow.
Almost everything in the auction was picked up by my father during the height of his garage sale visits, though there were a few items from our time in Barrow. The Barrow items were the most coveted. Becky bought a whale cup for 50 Sampsonbucks and Blythe (who had about 250 Sampsonbucks leftover after the first auction) got to take home a beautiful pair of beaded mukluks. The only other item to rival that one was the carved duck I bought for 180 Sampsonbucks and a lovely German wine pitcher Blythe bought for about 200 Sampsonbucks. (Robinson thought I was crazy and threatened to release the duck in the middle of Denali Park on his way back.) My dad, generous as he is, also gave us some old Barrow bus tokens.Family memories are something like leftovers: you don't always know what to expect. As skeptical as my sisters and I were of the Sampsonbucks auction, we all had a blast. Dad commented that it was the most fun we've had as a family in about 20 years.
Most of my winnings have been given away or marked for an upcoming garage sale. A few other items I've set aside as gifts for friends. (The gorgeous brown pitcher in the last photo was a birthday present for my friend Amanda. I won it for a Sampsonbuck.) Only a few of my items are on display in my home, which is how it should be.
Blessed be.
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