Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." Genesis 9:13

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Maybe someone knows?

Guess what? This post is not going to be about pain or illness.



The year I turned 22 I found out on my 22nd birthday that my parents had known all along I had been molested as a small child, but thought that telling the person doing to it stop had effectively ended it. I also found out my father had molested more people that we were aware of, including the girl next door whose sudden stop to our close friendship had hurt me badly around middle school. I also spent the evening of my 22nd birthday trying to help my father's wife figure out how to leave him and where she could go to be safe, while keeping my 15 month old brother safe as well. And from that night on I spent the next months figuring out to keep my father out of my life and then withdrawing from him, a horrible process I don't like to recall. (Especially the part where I didn't invite him to my college graduation and he showed up anyway.....)

Anyway, for that birthday that I do not want to remember he gave me a sapphire ring. And for graduation he gave a collectible gold coin.

I have kept these things for the past 12 years because my mother says I'll want them someday. I don't think so. I think they just are painful memories and finding them triggers more painful memories.

I want to sell them. But how does one do that? How do you know you're getting a fair price? I have no idea of the initial value. Where do you do that?

I'm sure they aren't worth much, but I'm thinking I'd rather than $100 in my kitchen remodel account (I have to replace my patio door this spring, and it has leaked and damaged the floor and subfloor, so I'm also going to have that repaired and laminate put down instead of the dreadful linoleum that currently is there, linoleum I'm convinced is impossible to clean) than I would

like to have these things sitting around.

Any idea how I get this done?

2 comments:

Michal Ann said...

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13

Yeah, liquidate that stuff. Cash sounds like a great plan for the new year and your forward-looking plans. I have no real information about your valuables but a couple ideas. Perhaps you could check around on ebay to gather ideas of value. It usually costs money to have a true appraisal but you could look in jewelry store windows and coin shops, on line or otherwise. The retail jewelry mark-up is at least 50% but it might give you a starting place.

Ironically, JUST yesterday I put on a ring that has languished in my drawer because of the painful associations. As an experiment, I'm going to try to enjoy it for what it is, not the brokenness it has represented. I may be able to beat back the negative by using it as a trigger for prayer. TODAY is the very day that things seem to be at their darkest, even darker than they were yesterday when the whole hemisphere was at it's blackest.

The first sentence I read after I got off a painful phone call, the first phrase I read (about our new relationship with the twins of my "suicide" sister)~~"I PRAY YOU'LL DEVELOP JOYFUL, POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS FREE FROM PAIN."

Amen!

Oh my yes, please, Jesus. Please give me a POSITIVE new year! 2009 has had deeply agonizing pain throughout from Jan. 1 to the current day. There have been bright spots as well but there's been an agonizing undercurrent that only I am aware of.

JustMe, the childhood you wrote about is horrible. It IS a story of great pain. I will keep praying for your continued healing. Deep stuff but it seems like you have made progress?? Healing, we need healing.

Rejoice in the upcoming renovations, buy some new flooring, put the bad stuff under your feet and walk on.

Julia said...

The association of stuff tied to pain. I like your idea, too, to get rid of it and what better way to turn it into cash for anything positive. I think Michal was right, search around for values on the items...then try to sell them yourself through ebay or locally through craigslist. I have used both and if you are safeguarded all should be okay. You'd have to set up a paypal for ease of use for ebay. or in every city there are companies that will list it for you and take a percentage.