Aunt Ruby's Attic

7/27/2014

Years ago when the boys were in elementary school, we took a trip during summer to visit his Aunt Ruby in Arkansas.  When we had broached the subject of a visit to Aunt Ruby's house, she assured us that she had room for all of us and that her house was air conditioned. Think of the money we would save if we didn't have to pay for a hotel room.  Perfect.

The drive to Arkansas takes about 15 hours, so we stopped one night before continuing on our adventure/vacation. We got to Aunt Ruby's house after dark and when we stepped inside, the house was blissfully cool and the temperature outside was melt chocolate hot.  

We visited with Aunt Ruby and Jeff's grandparents for a short bit, but we were all really tired so Aunt Ruby showed us the way to her spare bedroom.  My shock and horror was that the spare room was in the ATTIC - and it was hot - really hot.  There were two beds and no a/c.  But, Aunt Ruby had a metal fan that had to be eons old and there was no cover over the blades.  I looked at the fan and knew I would worry about the boy's putting their hands into the spinning blades.  Obviously, you might be wondering why I would even think about that, but if you are a mother of boys, then you understand.  Danger means nothing to boys - big or old!

But our visit got worse when Aunt Ruby told us that the only bathroom was on the first floor, but there was a chamber pot underneath both beds, oh and one of them had a hairline crack, but should be fine.  How comforting.  After she left the room, I hissed (literally) at Jeff that he/we must be out of our minds spending not one but two nights in a suffocating attic, with whining children.

Before the boys went to sleep we showed them the chamber pot and told them that in the interest of not making a "splash" on the floor, they would need to kneel on the floor.  After getting the necessary instructions over with, then the next problem was how to set the fan in the right area so that everybody could during one turn or another, get some cool air.  Astronauts have gone into space with less difficulty than trying to appease whining children!

During the night, Jeff poked me and said that he was going to need to use the "pot".  He pulled the pot out from underneath the bed, thankfully the boys didn't wake up, because by the time the deed was done, and the pot slid back into place, both of us were hysterical with laughter.  The next morning, Jeff had to bring the pot downstairs to empty it so that it was ready for the next night.  Not exactly what  most of us imagine ourselves doing.  I'm happy to say that in all the years since we've never encountered another chamber pot!

I think it was in Aunt Ruby's basement where there was a shower with a toilet inside the shower area.  How efficient.  You could take care of two things at once!  This was a novelty for the boys (okay and me too), and it was the first time that they were actually anxious to take a shower!

The stairs leading to the basement were absolutely full (with a capital F) of Sears catalogs that were old, really old.  If, I hadn't had the boys who needed entertainment in a small town, I would have been in heaven going through all of those catalogs.

There was something else at Aunt Ruby's house that was beautiful beyond words.  I love glass and she had china cabinets filled with glass sorted by colors.  There were red, green, blue, yellow, as well as other colors all lined up like a rainbow.  At that time in my life, Ebay hadn't been created nor did I have any money to indulge myself into buying decorative glass.  Years later I searched for unique glass pieces, mostly Murano from Italy and like Aunt Ruby's house, but on a smaller scale, have beautiful glass throughout the house.

I no longer add new glass pieces to my collection., not that I don't want to.  But the rational side of me knows that I'm not going to be able to take these beautiful glass pieces with me and it seems doubtful that my sons will find them as special as I do, nor do I expect them to.  I'm also aware that if we ever downsize our house, I might not have room for all of my treasures, and I'm okay with that.  I have enjoyed the "hunt" on Ebay for my treasures and love looking around at my curio cabinets (and yes I have more than one). 

When I was actively bidding on Ebay, I was a force to be reckoned with if I found a beautiful and/or unique piece of glass. Luckily for those buying glass now, I'm no longer in the game.  I look, but I don't buy!

P