Attic Treasures

When I was a little girl, we lived in a house that had a long attic closet that stretched across the side of the house. My bedroom had a door that led to the attic, so I created my own little hideout in the attic closet. I made a fort out of blankets and placed my stuffed animals all around to create a cozy corner to read and play.

To this day, when I come home one of my favorite things to do on a lazy day is look through the hidden things in our attic. Though we live in a different house now, I still ended up with the bedroom that connects to the attic. I like to go out there late at night when the rest of the family is sleeping and see what I can discover. I don’t know what it is that I love so much about attics. When I open up the attic door, it smells….old, and a little musty. But there’s something about that smell that I love. It brings back memories. When I’m on the floor in the attic looking through old keepsakes, it’s like I’m lost in time.

Tonight was one of those nights. I wiped the dust off of an antique trunk and as I opened it I was giddy with excitement. It probably wouldn’t be that exciting to anyone else, but the hippie spirit within me was overjoyed as I reached in and pulled out an old suede leather jacket that my mom wore when she was a teenager in the 70s. I tried it on and sure enough…it fits! Can’t wait to rock it.

I came across clothes I wore as a baby and letters my parents wrote to each other while they were dating (kinda makes today’s communication via facebook and texting seem a little less romantic!) My favorite find of the night was my “treasure box” from when I was in the fourth or fifth grade. This is a big wooden box my granddaddy made and painted for me for my birthday one year.

It’s been years since I looked through this thing. So long that the paint had melted and stuck to the wood so I had to pry it open. It’s funny the things you think are “treasures” when you’re a kid. I was reminded of what an odd, quirky kid I was (and still probably am) as I sifted through the contents of my beloved wooden box. Inside I found:

*a large stick
*lots of rocks and seashells
*pieces of carpet
*an altoid box with hardwood floor samples inside (?)
*locks of my own hair (I would save it after I got it cut)
*all of my baby teeth (along with a note from my mom to my dad which read: “Hey Babe! Would you put a dollar under Meredith’s pillow? She pulled a molar.” Guess that’s when I found out the tooth fairy looked a lot like my dad.)
*paper dolls
*a few happy meal toys
*an empty skittles wrapper (pretty sure it was from a boy I liked)

When I got to the bottom of the box and realized I had looked through all of my “treasures” I laughed a little. Those things were obviously special to me at one point in my life. However, now a candy wrapper, a stick, and locks of my own hair don’t seem like treasures to me.

I wonder if this is what it will be like when I get to heaven. I’ll look back on all the things I treasured on earth and chuckle. It all really is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, huh? Just a thought.

Okay, I’m off to find more treasures in my own little Narnia- my attic closet!