Sunday, April 25, 2010

Hidden Treasures Right Above

BEDA: April 25, 2010

I have found that there are generally three types of people.
Some of us carry the bare essentials with us at all times. Some of us hoard everything we can and become packrats. But most of us set the majority of things we own aside in "I'll get back to these later" piles.

These piles can end up at our parent's house, at a friend's house, but most often the belongings from time past end up in the storage unit of all storage units: The attic.

This story actually begins with my cousin's surprise 18th birthday party today but the blog begins with me realizing that the attic above the garage where we were holding the party had no entrance.

So I made one.

A family friend and I found a space in the ceiling where the entrance used to be and brought the ladder over to the hole. If you know me well you know that I love flea markets, garage sales, anything with previously-thought-to-be-lost stuff. We climbed up and, at first, there seemed to be nothing really of interest.

There was a queen's trophy from the 1950s, an old baby highchair, some old dresses on the ground and a big pile of gift boxes laying in the corner but mainly just a musty room.

It was only after digging through the gift boxes that I got to anything of substantial age.

The woman who owned the house before my uncle was nearing 100 years of age. I found her diploma. And her certificates from 4H club. And a few photo albums from the 19teens. Talk about a surprise.

After looking through the dusty ruins more, (I say ruins because a lot of the things were broken and smashed) I found a single unbroken tea cup while the others had all been smashed, a ledger from 1932, and an ivory calligraphy pen in a little wooden case. My favorite thing that I found near the end was a large German bible with no distinguishable date, although it looked to be pre-1900s.

I pretty much geeked out over that.

How much do you want to wager that she didn't even know they were up there? Well, rest assured, most of it is currently on its way to her house as I type this. After all, it's her property and no one would get quite as big a kick out of it as she.

3 comments:

  1. I love looking through old things! I think that's why I am such a pack rat. It's hard for me to part with things, because I think to myself, "Would I appreciate running into this later in life?" haha

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  2. A lot of people would have thought "dude, this looks expensive!" and would have sold it on EBay. That's what I find funny about this. But you didn't, and that's why you're made of awesome!

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  3. She will be thrilled that you sent these things to her and didn't sell them! Your moral compass seems to be in good working order.

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