A light in the attic

Growing up, attics were pretty much the stuff of books. We had a shallow attic space you could peer into after you pulled down the ladder steps, climbed them, and then balanced your hunchbacked self on the rafters. I figured if you couldn't walk in the attic space, it must be a fake. But it was all I had.

Grandmomma Stapleton lived in an apartment. No attic there. 

Grandmomma and Grandaddy Gibson lived in a trailer. No attic. (But the day the shed came was almost as good!)

So pretty much everything I knew about attics came from V.C. Andrews.

Probably not the best source of all-things-attic-y. 

My sons, on the other hand, know attics. They have Mammaw's attic. When we go home, they beg her to take them up there to dig through the boxes of old toys she's stored from Curt and his sister's childhood. Even in the dead of summer when the temperature must hover at 150 degrees. 

And she agrees. 
Every single time. 

Bless her heart.

Curt's sister and Benjy strung this contraption a couple of years ago. I had no idea till I came snooping with my iPhone camera. 

Check out the wallpaper. Attics were wallpaper-worthy. 

Curt's mom can tell you the history of every square inch of their house, including the attic.  Curt will simply tell you that the attic fan is the way to go. It's the poor man's air conditioner. 

This room was once a dance studio with a mirror across one wall and a piano propped to the side. Little girls twirled to its tunes during the depression. It also once served as the maid's room. There's even a little sink in the corner. 

In the roaring '80s, Curt slept here and hosted some mean Dungeons and Dragons games. He brought the first ever real air conditioner home to this room and his parents found themselves hanging out in their son's room much more than was necessary, according to Curt.

This is the room that hides the boxes that fascinate my boys. (And, if I were totally honest, me, too.) 

There's an old English broad sword of Curt's that Benjy dreams of hanging in his room. This is also home to various Air Force pieces of Papaw's that Benjy simply MUST HAVE.  I'm rather attracted to the vintage Little People doll house. 

I think of all the things hiding up here, though, the windows have to be my favorite.

From what I recall of my childhood vision of attics, they all had dormer windows. 

Just like this.

There's something secret-y about the space that leads to the window, the light that shines a good 10 feet away from where you stand. That light in the attic beckons. I'm glad Mammaw lovingly keeps it burning.