01 Apr April 2024 at Experienced Goods

by Jennie Reichman

I recently heard an interview on NPR with David Frum, a senior editor and writer at The Atlantic.  He had written a piece for the magazine called “Miranda’s Last Gift,” about the sudden death of his 32-year-old daughter and the grief he and his family are processing. As he said in the interview, Miranda left them with sadness and memories, but also with her dog, Ringo, a temperamental, recalcitrant King Charles spaniel. Deeply devoted to Miranda, the dog wanted little to do with David and his wife immediately after Miranda’s death, but over time and with patience (and after a remarkable act of acceptance on the dog’s part at Miranda’s funeral), Ringo came to see David and his wife not as replacements for Miranda, but as his assistants, specifically Assistant One and Assistant Two. David’s insight into this process revealed that he was better able to write about the loss of Miranda by making Ringo the central character in the story rather than Miranda. Through relating the development of their relationship with Ringo, David was able to touch on the devastation he and his wife feel and describe their process of coming to terms with it. By talking about a smaller thing, David was able to describe and honor the larger thing.  

Several of us who work at Experienced Goods have gone through or are going through the loss of one or both parents or another loved one. Each of us processes these losses differently, but it’s the nature of our relationships with each other that we are honest about our emotions, and feel safe enough with each other to talk about them. We listen and we empathize, we give hugs and make space. We often talk about smaller things while working across from each other or side by side, and those small things ease the burden of the larger grief we carry around that threatens to overwhelm us. This comfortable intimacy is one of the many reasons I have worked at the shop for so long and can’t imagine working anywhere else.  

April is such a funny month in Vermont. It could snow (and often does) or it could be warm enough to buy a new bathing suit (we have them!). Nobody wants to buy sweaters or blankets or snow shovels anymore. Maple sugaring is in full force, the trees are still bare, and everyone is a little cranky and impatient for “real spring.” I think that’s why whatever powers do the deciding made April National Poetry month. A poem is such a concentrated nugget of observation, it can jolt you out of whatever ennui you are dragging around and give you a fresh perspective. Every April for the past several years, Write Action, a local support organization for writers, solicits poems from area poets and asks downtown Brattleboro businesses to post them in their shop windows. Brilliant! You can walk down Main Street, Elliot Street or Flat Street, stop for 2 minutes to read a poem and transform your day. Experienced Goods is one of these participating businesses, so the next time you are bustling through our doors, excited to shop and browse, take a gander at the two poems in our front windows. I admit that one of them is mine; I’m honored to be included in this wonderful annual event.  

I also want to extend another huge thank you to our delightful donors and shoppers. This is the time of year when things slow down a bit at Experienced Goods, and your patronage keeps us afloat and allows us to support Brattleboro Area Hospice. So get a jump on spring cleaning and bring us those treasures you are ready to pass on to others! Shoppers, you know what to do. See you soon!