The Attic Purge

One of my children swung by a while back and asked me if I knew the location of some item he had left behind when he moved out. I pointed him in the direction of his old bedroom, and he disappeared up the stairs. He reappeared moments later empty-handed. I then suggested that he rummage around in the attic as that was the most common destination of long abandoned items that were of no use to anyone.

He reappeared before me in the kitchen about 10 minutes later dripping with sweat and accused me of being a hoarder. A hoarder? Me? The one who cannot abide even the most minute amount of clutter? This couldn’t be true. I had to see for myself what he was talking about, so I stopped what I was doing and headed upstairs to the attic.

The first thing I noticed upon entering this disaster zone was the temperature. It was roughly 150°. No wonder he was drenched in sweat. The second thing was much worse. As I stood glancing around I could see no more than 2 feet in front of me due to the ceiling high wall of junk that confronted me the minute I opened the door. How had this happened? When had I fallen into the habit of hauling every last bit of old, unneeded, unwanted paraphernalia all the way up those stairs to be deposited in that dirty, oven-like cavern that was my attic. I just couldn’t understand how it had gotten away from me, but obviously it had. Something had to be done. 

And so began the great attic clean-out. I actually had to wait a few months until the weather cooled off - I didn’t want to risk heat stroke - but once it did, the project got underway. I began with the low hanging fruit closest to the front, and bit by bit, worked my way back. There was easily enough there to open a thrift shop, which is where all of that stuff should have been sent in the first place. But no, I had let it pile up, and now it all had to go. I was utterly ruthless. Almost nothing was spared, and I have no regrets.

The whole process, believe it or not, took almost a year. When I began I couldn’t even walk a path through that attic. Now that it’s done, I have a clear view from one end to the other. I can see the ratty looking plank floors, the ugly exposed rafters, the tacky lightbulb dangling from the ceiling - all of it. And I have to say, it’s a beautiful sight!