Online Auctions can be a Treasure Trove of Nostalgia

Over the years, eBay and I have had a pretty good relationship. I have sold a lot of unwanted items there, and, more importantly, have purchased a few things that brought back some precious memories.

When I was first married, chenille bedspreads were very popular. Everyone seems to prefer comforters now and, consequently, chenille bedspreads have gone out of style. When my old chenille bedspread got so thin I could see through it, I still used it, reluctant to give it up since no replacement was available. Even when the spread turned into shreds, I continued to use it now and then, just because I loved it so much. It is still here, in a plastic bag, on a shelf in my closet.

A friend asked me to search for mattress covers for her on eBay one day so I put the word, "bedding," into the search engine, and was amazed when a gorgeous chenille bedspread popped up. Well, in the next two hours, I had a ball searching through dozens of chenille bedspreads and finally found just the one I wanted. It had lots of tufts on it and a pretty floral pattern of flowers on a white background.

Sure that I would never win the bid, or that it would go way beyond what I could afford, I tried anyway. When I told my husband what I had done, he laughed at me. "Why would you want a 40-year-old bedspread?" he asked. "It's probably in worse shape than that old raggedy one we have around here." I could tell he didn't have the same attachment to the old spread as I did.

I won the bid with $40 plus shipping and the bedspread was even more beautiful than the picture. I am enjoying it just as much as I enjoyed its predecessor. There seems to be very little wear on it, but, realizing how old it is, I wash it only when I absolutely have to and use a gentle cycle to dry it. I have had it over a year now, and I still love it. The other day, my husband told me I should start looking for another one to keep in reserve for the day this one needs to be replaced. "They probably won't be around forever," he said, and I'm sure he is probably right.

My other memorable eBay purchase was for my mother.

She was 80 at the time and had often mentioned a book she had loved as a child. Each page was divided into sections so that the top picture on any given page could be paired with the middle or bottom picture of any other page. An elephant's head could be paired with a mouse body and legs, for example. She chuckled each time she talked about the book. She thought it had been used as a prize in a Kelloggs cereal box.

One day as I was browsing around on eBay, I saw the book from her childhood advertised on an auction. By that time my mother's 85th birthday was approaching, and a large family gathering was planned to celebrate. I bid on the book, and ended up paying an atrocious $27 for it, but it was worth every cent.

At her birthday party, my mother was working her way through a pile of gifts and finally came to mine. You would have loved the expression on her face when she saw that book. She was so excited and kept insisting it was the same one she had when she was a child. I don't think I ever convinced her that it wasn't. And who knows? Maybe it was.

My mother lived to be 91, and when I visited her, she often brought the book out to show me again how it worked. I am so glad that eBay was around to make my Mom's dream as well as my own come true.