I don’t want peace, I want problems
- Melissa Herrera: Not Waiting for Friday
- February 26, 2023
- 975
A drizzly rain is tapping against my window like the tell-tale heart in Edgar Allan Poe’s famous short story. It seems to have an edge to it this morning, wanting to weave its own fable around the steaming edges of my coffee cup. I’m cushioned in the warm, orange weave of the chairs I thrifted at Habitat Restore in Canton as I sip.
My coffee cup is chunky with the word Magnolia emblazoned on the side. When we visited Waco, Texas — as we dropped down from Fort Worth to San Antonio several years ago — we made a pit stop at the mecca that is Magnolia Market. I left with a soft tee, a coffee cup and cupcake crumbs around the corners of my mouth.
Last summer I was rummaging through shelves of coffee cups at a thrift store and found my Magnolia cup’s twin, but with the word Silos on the side. I plucked it from its abandonment, and now George sips from it in tandem with me.
It’s been a week of wildly swinging emotions. Amidst the highs and lows, I decided it was the right time to open my online Instagram store, peddling vintage coffee cups to the masses. When I was a younger mom and eBay was in its infancy, I sold everything on there, from a set of old Tarzan books, to shoes, to whatever I knew would give me a little cash. I loved the thrill of the sale, using what little knowledge I had of the online realm.
Today’s online shops are a different breed of animal. There is technique and a constant flow of content needed to keep the followers intrigued. I know I have the goods, but do I have the savvy to sell on that platform?
I’ve managed social media content for various places for a long time. I do not have a degree in marketing, so I call myself and posting skills “social media marketing lite.” It served me well then, but maybe I need a brush-up and to take a class. If I start disliking the mechanics of it, I’ll keep collecting, which I have since the beginning of time, and continue to do garage sales, which I am an expert at.
The thing about thrifting is I could never look at it as a job. When I’m having the worst of days, I point my car to the nearest thrift store and engage in some retail therapy. My favorite part of thrifting is the slow meander through the aisles, my eyes scanning each shelf and wall, and the tingle of the search. You can’t fake that feeling, and you also can’t fake the instinct for finding good pieces. You either love it or you’re doing it wrong.
The rain is growing heavier as I head for my second cup of coffee in the Magnolia mug. My cat Tina has hopped onto the table in front of me and is sound asleep, purring softly. My home is a cocoon that slips around my shoulders when everything seems too much.
George loves to watch Reels on Instagram, and there is a bit of sound that goes with different funny videos he watches. He will repeat it to me and laugh loudly to himself. I know when I hear the phrase, “I don’t want peace, I want problems,” followed by cackling laughter, he’s found another funny reel. When we’re having a disagreement, he will say this to me, and we dissolve into chuckles.
I like a good dust-up, but peace is the ultimate goal. Sometimes the problems, and what we have to do to get through them, mean taking action. I just want to live my life softly, wrapped in the cocoon of my home — I’m not looking for something to come along and disrupt it. But when it does and my peace turns into a problem, I’m not going to hesitate. There’s just enough boil in my blood to keep me on fire.
I have enough coffee cups in my collection to serve 100 people, or enough to sell for a long time on my new IG. I also have enough words in my head and ink in my pen to write what needs said. “The Tell-Tale Heart” was an early story about gaslighting, and Poe used a convincing narrative meant to distract its characters from the truth.
In this space we don’t gaslight or distract. Even through a dirty, rain-soaked window, the truth remains clear.
Melissa Herrera is a columnist, published author and drinker of too many coffees based in Holmes County. You can find her book, “TOÑO LIVES,” at www.tinyurl.com/Tonolives or buy one from her in person (because all authors have boxes of their own novel). For inquiries or to purchase, email her at junkbabe68@gmail.com.