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When my parents moved in February, I went and helped them clean out their attic. I found an old VSO there, which had been there about 25 years. It was the violin I left at school during high school. I kept my good violin (the one I still have) at home to practice on, took it to lessons, and brought it in to school for concerts.

I thought my mom had sold the old VSO years ago, but apparently not. Twenty-five years in the attic were not kind to it. The strings were broken and the varnish crumbled off when I picked it up. My parents had called the folks at 1-800-GOT-JUNK for the stuff my brother and I didn't want anymore, and I let them take it.

That experience has made me want to loan out or sell my kids' old instruments as much as possible while they're still in reasonably good shape. It's much better for violins to be played than stored in an attic.

Is summer in a Macon attic hot enough to melt a violin or cause it to spontaneously combust? Well, the second day of school, it was hot enough that some wood chips on the playground caught on fire. The temps have been slightly less than normal this week, but we hit 100+ very often in the summer.