I hope my youngest daughter Katie won’t mind that I’m sharing the news of her upcoming wedding. She and her long-time boyfriend Rob Hornstra are getting married next fall, and I couldn’t be happier.
Katie and Rob have been a couple for 10 years now, going all the way back to when they both lived in Lawrence, Kan. They’ve lived in Chicago for the past several years, and would consider themselves to be Chicagoans now – with some Kansas roots.
Katie and Rob make a great couple, balancing each other out in so many ways. And Rob already is the kind of guy I’d have chosen for my daughter – easy-going and sensible, with just enough of a fun-loving streak to make him a treat to be around.
My kids announced their engagement a few weeks ago, and Katie was the one who dropped to one knee one evening and proposed. Rob said it was pretty cool to be on the receiving end of a proposal.
And now the wedding plans are on. As the father of the bride, I’ll help out as much as I can with my checkbook, but these are both frugal young adults who want a simple wedding with down-to-earth frills.
More importantly, Katie already has enlisted Kim and I to help with wedding plans. She and Rob want to do something cool with goblets as gifts to their wedding guests, and she thought, “Why not pick a couple of pickers?”
Since then, we’ve started looking for goblets at estate sales, where we come across them once in a while. This past weekend, while Kim was out of town visiting her daughter, I decided to pick one of the last and best opportunities of the fall season: the flea market at Paramount Antique Mall.
I’ve got a booth at Paramount, and Kim runs one at Paramount Market Place. Together we have a sideline antique (and junk) business that we hope to carry into our retirement years.
Anyways, I’m pretty familiar with the once-a-month flea market at Paramount Antique Mall, and know several of the vendors.
“If I can’t find some goblets here, I don’t deserve to call myself a picker,” I told myself as I pulled in at the flea market Saturday afternoon. I’m not an early attendee at flea markets – the best deals are usually made as the day winds down at these events and vendors have to consider packing up their remaining treasures (junk) in a couple of hours.
My mission that afternoon was twofold: goblets for Katie and Rob, and restock for my booth inside the antique mall.
As I started pickin’ and talkin’ my way from vendor to vendor, my pile of restock (junk) for my booth was bigger than my pile of goblets for the wedding. Just keep searching, I told myself.
Usually, I survey the landscape at these flea markets and just hit on things I know I can probably get for a great price. That day, I needed to search every table and junk pile for the goblets I was trying to find for Katie and Rob.
Within a couple of hours, I had a nice batch of restock for myself…and 19 goblets for my daughter and future son-in-law. I was thrilled. I had secured four different styles of goblets (they want mix and match) with one set of four, one set of six, one set of eight, and one single goblet.
There won’t be another flea market until springtime, but that’s okay. I’ll root around through estate sales and maybe even an auction or two over the next few months, continuing the hunt.
Katie and Rob love the first round of flea market goblets, and that’s what matters the most. But coming in a close second was the fun I got to have helping with their wedding plans.
My youngest child has always loved a good craft project, and as her wedding day approaches, I’m sure there’ll be other chores for me…other than digging out my checkbook.
And in that respect, I’m a pretty lucky father.
