Not quite a native Ripley Countian - she attended only her last year of high school in Doniphan though she taught in the R-1 system for 32 years - Teresa (Pearson) Lee delights in surprising readers and herself with anecdotal observations of life in general. Maybe you can blame her St.Louis roots for a quirky humor and some slightly-askewed opinions, but never doubt she writes from the heart.

The Joke's on Me

Posted Sunday, November 28, 2021, at 6:40 PM

My brother eyeing the vase for the first time in YEARS!

Fate? Coincidence? Not sure. A random stop at Vintage Village Flea market helped me resurrect a family joke dating back to 1971. I was a freshman at Southern Baptist College roaming around in Walnut Ridge with college pals. At a sale overflowing with colorful Mexican flower pots that everyone used in macrame planters, I found a single, grand, ornate, old-world, gold-tinged maroon and white vase - about a yard tall - that I thought Mom would love! I hid it in a trash bag with my dirty clothes. Dad picked it and me up on a Friday night.

The joke was I was the ONLY one who thought Mom would like it. She did NOT, but I didn't know that until just a few months ago, when my sister and I wondered what happened to it. My brother agreed that she HATED it, and backed it up with evidence. Apparently it was as out-of-sight as possible until I was to be around. It eventually disappeared, but no one really knows how or when.

The flea market’s backroom had a few items on display. I missed the vase on my first round, but my subconscious must have noticed. I made it almost to the front door before turning around, as in a trance, to tour the room again. There it stood in all its vintage glory, an almost exact duplicate! The damaged handle had been repaired, and the gold and white details had been painted over. It was a bargain at $10 to make my brother and sister each think I was gifting it again to them.

Their facial expressions were hilarious when recognition set in! I like to think it is THE vase I bought, that Mom found someone who did her the special favor of taking it off her hands. It looks as though it has been in a shed for a long while though someone did make the effort to fix it up, if not quite to its former glory. Wonder of wonders if it has been in the area these 50 years!