Some Rambling Thoughts

I just packed away a whole slew of salt and pepper shakers made in Japan. I was pretty thrilled when I found them at a yard sale because you just don't find them that often. For whatever reason they didn't sell on Ebay so I've packed them in the trunk of the car to take home in April. Hopefully, the customers at my flea market stall back home will want them.

It's always been interesting to me how some things won't sell on Ebay one week but get many bids if you relist them the next week. I've chosen not to relist these, though, because I'm a little fed up with the many fees Ebay levies on us sellers. If I was doing this for a living I'd have thrown in the towel long ago but it's more of a hobby for me and I think I still come out slightly ahead of the game.

I have a few friends and relatives that sell on Ebay and we love picking each other's brains when we get together. Only another Ebayer can understand the fun of watching as an item you've listed suddenly becomes popular and you get multiple bids.

I've probably mentioned before how discovering that I could sell on Ebay with some degree of success opened up a whole new world for me. It was the first enterprise I'd ever undertaken on my own and it surprised and delighted me to have this little business as my own. Granted, it's never brought me much money but it's proven to me that I could have succeeded on a broader scale if I'd had the nerve to try earlier in my life.

We were discussing Walt Disney one day and I said that he had the open mind to think big...really big! And he had the daring spirit to bring his dreams to reality. That takes more self assurance than most of us possess. Years ago I read a notation written into a high school yearbook. It was written by a young man, maybe 18 years old. It said, "Goodbye high school, hello Stelco" and I thought even then how limited that young man's thinking was. And mine was never any better.

I've seen a difference in some of my grandchildren. One of them dreams big and has a strong determination to do great things. She's so fervent about her dreams that I know she'll have a rich and colorful life. I hope I'm around long enough to watch her soar.

I guess the moral of this long harangue is that we shouldn't settle for mediocrity but persue our interests with gusto. I wish I'd learned this a long time ago.