Do You Tingle?

This past weekend I visited some relatives which required a road trip. Just as a car needs gas...humans need food...I need to stop at one antique mall advertised via an obnoxious billboard on the interstate. This trip was no exception.

I often wonder why people will only wear brand names...that the latest Louis Vitton makes them tingle with delight...well, the mystery is solved. The whole process of tingling is subject to what makes you tingle. For me, it is a simple sign hoisted into the air about 80 ft. and reads "Over 150 Booths". The mere thought of crossing the threshold of uncharted junk cubbied into 10 ft. squares, with hand written signs reading 20% off TODAY ONLY! is sometimes more than I can handle. My car has an innate magnetism to antique malls! When I enter the building, the refuse of earlier times calls to me, and I always want to answer.

This particular stop had its many rewards. But, the one I enjoyed the most was the cigar wrappers. I have looked for these for years! I grew up on a tobacco farm...my father raised it... was a buyer of it...and auctioned it. I myself helped many summers planting it...setting it...and benefiting from its sale. We all know the consequences of tobacco and there is no debate, but one aesthetic value of tobacco...was the packaging. The boxes...the wrappers...the papers...all beautifully ornamented and pleasing to the eye. Through the years I've seen outstanding things made from cigar wrappers...but, not by me...because I never could find them.

Today...and today ONLY...I found cigar wrappers! Lovely little $1 bundles with an artistic future. They called to me....they said, "find some good in me"...and I did. Quickly I snapped up the five bundles and called them mine. It kind of made me tingle!