When I was in college — in the mid-90s — I discovered the art of thrifting. I was working in a vintage store at the time in Tampa, FL called Decades Ago-Go. My bosses Laura and Dan taught me so much about vintage and all the things to look for when out shopping. This was […]

When I was in college — in the mid-90s — I discovered the art of thrifting. I was working in a vintage store at the time in Tampa, FL called Decades Ago-Go. My bosses Laura and Dan taught me so much about vintage and all the things to look for when out shopping. This was before eBay and when thrift stores were still like time capsules. A place where childhoods went to rest and whole lives were spelled out: the same name over and over, etched into a dresser, scribbled in a book, names sewn into jackets. It’s as if parents just dumped everything belonging to their children into one place, hoping new memories were found. In 1999 I moved to Seattle, and my then boyfriend and I would go thrift stores, estate sales, and yard sales almost daily so that we could sell at the Fremont Market each Sunday. This market was a mix of vintage booths and your traditional farmed goods. It was so fun and got to a point where we had people regularly coming to the market just to see what we had found that week. It was such a fun time in my life. It felt like the most carefree time, too. I was in graduate school and teaching, but didn’t have a job that came home with me other than lo...