Y'all come back now, y'a hear?

Every summer, my family visits my grandparents in Kentucky. It is always a great time catching up, telling funny stories, and just relaxing in the relaxing pace of the South. One of our favorite pastimes is going to yard-sales. There is something that is so rewarding knowing that you are paying so much less for other people's junk than what they paid for it.

Our yard-saling adventures have taken us all over Marshall county, Kentucky. We have been to trailer parks, homes by the Kentucky lake, farms, and developments. There is one yard-sale that still sticks out to me.

We were following our map, my granddad as our navigator, into what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. This was the only place I have ever seen that actually marked its dirt roads with street-signs. After sliding our way through the muck that had to rival the jungles of Nicaragua, we came to a house with a sign that said, "yard-sale out back." We all stepped out of the car, careful to not step in any hidden animal feces and possible remains of beer cans. We headed to the back yard and there was a family of three, lackadaisically welcoming us to their sale. They had a few tables set up with the normal yard-sale items: Clothes from the '80s and computer games compatible with Windows '95. Placed behind the sale were cages with mutts and all sorts of other animals, like pet squirrels and jackalopes. The Father was smoking a cigarette as he leaned over and told his son, "He Bo, why don't you show them the boa?" Bo then brought out their snake and my fiance, Steph, pretended not to shriek as she hid behind me.

I then found a rack of books they had for sale. I looked through them until I found one that surprised me senseless, "Christian Counseling."

The wife saw that I was looking at it and said, "We used to be pastors."

They then went on to tell me that they used to be pastors in Tennessee. They explained their calling, and their call to leave. They gave me tips on how to minister, and how to not minister. They decided to give me whatever books I wanted for free.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. Never assume anything about anybody. They just might surprise you.