2002-10-31 - 11:04 a.m.

Original Date: October 16, 2002

Today was my last full day here in Europe. While I miss my home and friends, there will be things I miss about Europe. I tried to get some last minute shopping done for my family, but none of the antique stores had anything small but cool. I could easily have spent these past 2 weeks in just antique stores. Ugh ... I am turning into my parents. Not that this is a bad thing. It isn't. It is just that I would never have thought antique stores so cool.

They are, and here is why. They are kinda a mix between a Christmas present, gumball machine, and museum. However, they take the best features of all of the above.

You never know what waits inside each store but the clutter (i.e. packaging) will give you a small clue. Some stores are spacious, neat, and expensive. Yet others are hardly a step above junkyards (which BTW are hella industrial).

Essentially all antique stores have "used" stuff. When you buy an antique you are recycling, and recycled stuff has a story behind it. Buying a new key isn't nearly as interesting as purchasing ... no make that "saving" an old one. It shouldn't be mistaken that I'm trying to personify objects, but I am interested in the human history hidden in the object. Who did this key belong to before?

That is why I enjoy giving gifts to family and friends. When a person touches something they become part of the story behind that object. I was teasing Cricket that I didn't want to get run over in Middleburg as I'd suck as an American ghost in the Netherlands. I don�t even know how to say "BOO!" in Dutch.

It is a shame that stores open late and close early here. I did not get all my shopping done. It is ironic that Americans are thought of as being lazy. We aren't. We get 203 weeks of vacation and work 40 to 60 hours a week. People seem to ignore the fact that when we rest and be lazy, it is because we've earned it.

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