My hair looks better the day after it has been washed and styled than it does on the day it gets special treatment. Second-day hair is shinier and fuller than first-day hair.

Many things are better when they are not brand new. The best wines and cheeses, for example, are intentionally aged. The quilt my grandmother made when I was a little girl is softer and comfier now than it was the day Grandma finished it.

Chili is better on day two, and so are marinated salads. Who wants to eat a lime-green banana the day it is brought home from the grocery store?

Worn shoes are more comfortable than new ones. An old deck of playing cards is easier to play with than a new deck right out of a cellophane-wrapped box.

Old baseball cards are more valuable than new ones. So are old coins and furniture. Old movies and television shows, in many people’s opinion, are better than the new ones. When it comes to great works of art, the older the better.

Go to an auction or estate sale and take note of the most sought after items: Old dishes; old tools; old toys; and even old, framed, black-and-white photos of people the new owners never even met.

Savvy entrepreneurs know consumers are always in the market for used items. Where would the Exit 76 Antique Mall, the Used Car Factory, Half Price Books, eBay, and Craigslist be if everyone demanded new?

Though I read from the New International Version Bible today, I revert back to the language of the Old King James Bible when I quote familiar passages such as Psalms 23 and John 3:16. Words like leadeth and believeth touch my heart in a warmer, softer way than the words leads and believes.

Some second-hand items are better because of the person who used them first. My mother’s old pastry blender has a worn, wooden handle that was once painted red, and bent blades that were once straight and sharp. It might look worse for wear, but it is the one thing I am claiming as my own when Mom doesn’t need her things anymore.

All friends are treasures, but old friends are best because they have been loyal for a long time. An oft-quoted poem expresses this sentiment well: Make new friends. Keep the old. The one is silver. The other is gold.

New certainly has its place. I’m not advocating eating moldy bread or driving an old clunker if you don’t have to. But don’t discredit old.

As the old songs say, Give Me That Old-Time Religion, That Old-Time Rock and Roll, Those Old Cotton Fields Back Home, and My Old Kentucky Home (Arkansas, actually).

Today I am making a pan of lasagna. It will taste great for supper … tomorrow night, when it isn’t brand new.