That evening, Dad and I climbed up into the attic. It was indeed the original insulation—now almost thirty years old. We could feel cool air leaking into the attic from the house below, everywhere we walked. Worse, the attic was cluttered with all sorts of junk. That would have to be sorted out before we could replace the insulation.
Over the years, we had largely ignored the attic. A few times each year, something would get thrown up there. Outside of the plastic Christmas tree and a few plastic containers full of ornaments and decorations, nothing ever came back down. My old crib still sat on one side of the attic, covered with cobwebs and surrounded by boxes and other loose junk. Several old computers and monitors were spread about. There were hundreds of things that would have to be t
