One man's trash?

If you read my post from Saturday, you know I just spent the weekend having a garage sale. I had a lot of...um..."stuff" that I needed to get rid of including this:

I know, I know...who on Earth would want some used toilets.  We didn't even get a nibble with a "FREE" sign posted on them during the garage sale.

I must admit, they provided some good laughs though when two different toddlers recognized them right away and yelling "POTTY" ran over to them...to the horror of their parents I might add.

As the garage sale was coming to a close, a woman stopped by, saw the toilets and said, "You know.  You can post those on Craig's List for free and someone will snatch them up."  Seeing the doubtful expression on my face she added, "I posted mine on Craig's List after we replaced ours and within two hours someone had picked them up."

Interesting... I thought.  So, as we were boxing up the remaining garage sale items for Goodwill, I posted this photo on Craig's List under the "FREE" heading.

To my surprise, I had two requests for them in under two hours and by the next morning, I had a whopping SIX people who wanted them.

I emailed "Tia" first since she had requested them first by email..leaving her phone number.  I dialed the number and "Stella" answered.  Stella sounded like an 80ish year-old woman who seemed thrilled that I had called.  She said she indeed wanted my toilets and said she'd send her "baby" down to pick them up. 

My cautious nature had me a bit concerned who her "baby" was since they'd be coming to my house to pick them up.  And having someone come to my house was breaking my "Craig's List" rule #1 - you only meet any connection made on Craig's List at a BIG retail parking lot, like a Walmart or a McDonald's, to make a transaction.  But we were NOT putting used toilets in either of our new cars.  No way.  So, rule #1 had to be broken. Someone would need to come to my house.

Rule #2 - is you don't meet a Craig's List connection alone...EVER!  So, at least all three of us would be here at the house when Stella's "baby" stopped by.

I found out the next day that Stella's baby was actually "Tia" her, I'd say...30ish year-old, daughter.  Tia and some other fellow, who looked like her son, came by Sunday and picked one of the toilets up.

I received another email from Tia this morning.  It simply said, "My Mom wants to say thanks for the toilet, she cant see it until she gets out of the hospital. She says it is a great help to her."

I felt so great and so bad all at one time.  Great that I was able to help someone out who sounds very grateful for the help, and awful because I made fun of those toilets and thought who want want my trash?

It's a great reminder to me that one man's trash IS another man's treasure and I shouldn't be so judgmental.  I'm also very blessed and have a lot to be thankful for in life.  Others have much, much less!

Now that I've had my learning moment, I still have one toilet left since Tia only needed the one for her mom.   But I'm a bit leery about the next person on the toilet request email list.  His name is Steve, but his email address is FreeTotalBodyMassage@....

I'm trying VERY hard not to be judgmental on this one too while at the same time remember that I should always be cautious when dealing with connections on Craig's List.