Over the last year I have discovered that working in the St. Andrews Thrift Shop is a magical place. Not because you open a bag and find a beautiful piece of vintage or high end clothing or uncurl bubble wrap and discover a vintage piece of milk glass or a sterling 925 Pitcher. Yes, those are indeed wonderful St. Claus/birthday gift-like moments.

But rather because, every once in a while, you have a take-your-breath-away, stop/dead-in-your-tracks minute. And that happened a few weeks ago when I walked into the shop back room and looked over and saw what was clearly a Tim Sample illustration. I picked it up and did not see any numbers on the right bottom edge so just assumed it was a multiple print. But since I know Tim’s sister, Debbie, I decided to just take it home and ask her to take a look. And when she came over and did look, I saw her eyes widen and her smile broaden. “Oh, I think this is one of Tim’s very early ones.” So she took it home and showed it to Tim. Turns out, it is one of the original drawings for the book, “How to Talk Yankee,” for which he was the illustrator, a time long before he was our beloved Maine raconteur. So, I was so delighted that we were able to gift it back to the family. And in return, Debbie and her husband David made a very generous donation to the auxiliary.

Every time I open a bag or box dropped off at the shop, I think about the fact that I may be seeing the things that someone just decided to bring to us rather than the dump, and we were thinking that maybe that should have been their first choice! But maybe they were cleaning out the closets and smiled as they remembered how tiny their children were when they wore them. Or maybe they were going through their mom’s house and carefully wrapping teacups and teapots in newspaper as they remembered special moments.

When you find treasures at a thrift shop, what makes them even more special is that they were also special for someone before you. Use them, wear them, love them.