“We Home” — an expression that our booth neighbors, Kathy and Wayne, shared with us at the Warrenton Antique Show. Their little two-year old grand-daughter said this as they pulled into their driveway one evening, and so now that is their expression to each other each time they arrive home from a trip. So, maybe that will be our new expression as well.

Not only did we meet some really nice dealers like Kathy and Wayne, but we also enjoyed meeting and talking with so many folks as they shopped at our booth. We couldn’t have done this show without the help of friends and family! Kelby took vacation time to help us load our 26′ Penske truck, unload it at the show, and then return it to Austin. He came several times to help out me at the booth or Terry across the street “in the field.” Then, he returned to help us load for our trip home. Good friends like Betty, Dennis, and Ann helped us immensely before the show opened on Friday, March 31. “Old” pros like Dennis and Betty gave us great ideas on how to display and didn’t hesitate to pick up heavy boxes to unload or pieces of furniture as we moved things around — several times! And what an idea Dennis had — he tied cards around long stemmed carnations that not only thanked the customer for shopping at Samtiques, but also included a 10% discount if they shopped at my booth in Luling. He filled a huge bucket with these flowers and we gave them out to anyone who walked into our booth — they carried them around Warrenton. Many people commented “oh, this is where those pretty flowers came from.” Thank you, Kelby, Ann, Betty and Dennis!

Cole’s Antiques was a hit — good quality antiques and over 100 booths to shop — all in air condition and no entry or parking fee. Compliments were generous and many said they would start their shopping at Cole’s next time. It will be even bigger by next show — Mr. Cole is planning to add another wing on the other side of the building. He is an inspiring senior citizen — will turn 81 soon and going strong!

Now, we are back home and trying to catch up on “stuff.” April the 15th is not far away — actually, we have until April 17 this year to file our income tax. I will tackle that job in the next day or two, but looking forward to our 41st anniversary on April 16 and a trip to Hawaii for a belated 40th anniversary celebration.

Life is good — reminds me about greeting one customer with the familiar “how are you?”, and he replied, “great, I’m still vertical.”