Thursday, November 6, 2008
The city of Wilson, Kan., is located about two miles off I-70, smack in the center of our fine state. City is a generous word, however, as Wilson has a population of about 750 people. All of its residents could fit in Budig 120, with plenty of seats to spare.
Wilson is: One main street, a grocery store, a gas station, an antique store and a handful of churches. It is also my grandmother’s hometown, and where she lived until about eight years ago. Going to Wilson was a staple of my childhood. I remember long summer days spent rollerblading up and down the main street and loitering at the gas station.
As entertaining as such activities were, though, it never took long for boredom to seep in. One July afternoon—surely in a desperate attempt to banish the impending monotony—I convinced myself that hidden in the Wilson, Kan., antique store was some magical artifact akin to One-Eyed Willy’s treasure map in The Goonies. If only I searched hard enough, I’d find it and embark off into the sunset on a fantastic adventure.
I never found anything close.
But what I did find was just as captivating: Shelves of Christmas ornaments, amateur paintings, kerosene lamps, old tools and cookware and wind-up toys.
I would slide my fingers along these objects, wondering about the lives they had lived and their anonymous former owners. Any flaw—a scratch in the wood, a chip in the paint—only made a piece more evocative and endearing to me. I imagined all the moments in time these things had witnessed, and somehow they
allowed those moments to exist still.
Check out Derek’s story on page 13 about the joy and adventure of antique shopping, and find out the best places to get your vintage hunt on here in Lawrence.
It’s strange to imagine, but someday antique stores will house remnants of our own childhoods—the dollhouse I cherished, the Legos my brother played with every day, the Beanie Babies I saved up my allowance for.
I haven’t been to Wilson for six years. But if I ever make it back, I’ll visit the antique store again. Who knows? Maybe I’ll stumble upon One-Eyed Willy’s treasure map this time. Or even better: a toy I used to love that reminds me of those childhood days spent invigorating my imagination in Wilson. I know I’d love it still.
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