Metuchen Musings
John Aden Lewis
Annual community-wide yard sale is a good opportunity to enjoy borough

Wanting to make the Chamber of Commerce proud, my participation in this year’s townwide yard sale was straight out of an economics textbook.

I sold one item for 10 bucks.

After reluctantly giving my wife her cut, I spent my $5 profit at a Metuchen Main Street establishment.

I bought a Sunday New York Times and a cup of coffee, single-handedly giving a boost to the local economy.

However, I think that yard sales aren’t really about making money.

First, a yard sale is about housecleaning.

As I drove around the borough the evening after the sale, I discovered a familiar pattern: items came out of the basement, were placed on a lawn and priced, and if not sold, went straight to the curb for Monday morning trash pickup.

Second, although there can often be some real bargains found at these sales, they are mostly snapped up by professional yard sale commandos who hit the pavement while most of us are still enjoying REM sleep.

In essence, yard sale shopping is entertainment — like taking a trip to Atlantic City — only bring the cash you’re prepared to lose.

Occasionally, the stars align in a way that a neighbor happens to be selling something that another neighbor needs, but overall, the items for sale are usually demonstrations of lapses in taste — like furniture that could decorate the set of "That 70s Show," or clothes that might have been fashionable during the Reagan administration.

These items aren’t really for sale, they’re merely beacons that scream, "Come talk to me! Let’s be neighborly!"

So, I think the real joy of the townwide yard sale is the opportunity to walk around on a beautiful spring day, admiring the flowers and lawns of borough-dwellers, and striking up small talk.

It’s about drinking lemonade, hearing the pinging of the aluminum bats at Moss School and sitting under Metuchen’s newly bloomed leaf canopy.

The afternoon rain spoiled the fun, but even a half-day yard sale was enough to build several months worth of community spirit.

John Aden Lewis is a resident of Metuchen