Not all Family History is The Same - Of Mice and Mold

I have not had the best week of my life this week. I felt a bit wet in the lungs for the past few days writing in my journal that I was a bit worried as they were wet and I couldn't seem to get on top of it.

With my lung damage from the parasite, any type of issues with the lung scares me as when I came out of surgery, I couldn't breath and was crying and blue due to not being able to breath. I truly don't want to end up like my mother but am more than half way there.

I woke myself up in the night to loud crackles and wheezes in my breathing. It scared me as I have never heard it so clearly audible without a stethoscope. I also kept waking myself with a wet cough. I had no question in the night as to why my lungs were wet as I knew it was pneumonia but as to what caused it, I was a
bit worried.

It wasn't until after taking all sorts of stuff, diffusing oils in the house and dealing with a few more of my mothers things that I KNEW what caused the pneumonia.

I did a super long transfer day about four days back. Two of the audio tapes I transferred had actual mold on them. I  figured that I would hurry and copy them and throw them out. I put them in a tied up bag after transferring the audio over and threw them away.

However, I pulled the boxes around them up to my nose and sniffed to make sure I threw away everything with mold on them. I infected my lungs with that mold! GRR 

Due to that issue, today, I pulled out anything I thought may have mold on it and threw it out. One of the suitcases had "reel to reel" written on the outside, I hadn't opened it. I did and found about fifty of these little reel to reels. I was super excited about the find as these are usually letters detailing my mothers life to her parents who served as Missionaries twice for several years.


The little ones I have transferred over already have many of my siblings and I talking to my grandparents in our cute little voices. It will be fun to organize these files by date when I get the all done and have a living history in my mothers voice. I can't say that I am super excited about all the time it is going to take but fun listening to them all just the same.

I spent about two hours yesterday cleaning a reel to reel player that I purchased at a second hand store when dropping some things off there. I was excited as it has the buffer to keep the tape playing when the reel causes it to lurch. Neither of the two that I have do that. However, this player only has the two speeds so many of the tapes can't be played on it.

As I was cleaning it out, I pulled out what I thought was a little cocoon from a moth or something only to find out I had just grabbed a dead mouse head! I screamed out loud. My daughter came running. I was so shocked I dropped it and couldn't get back to it
for a second, I had to bleach and alcohol everything over and over and my hands paid the price for my obsessive washing after that. I guess it had touched the fuses and been electrocuted.

I figured it was worth it to have a machine I didn't need to babysit and can't leave the chair due to having to push the reel if it lurched. I previewed about five tapes today and don't you know it, the darn thing broke! The play doesn't work anymore. I think the spring may have snapped but darned if I want to spend another two hours pulling it apart again! I am seriously questioning my sanity at doing all this as none of my siblings seem to be interested in helping but I feel like it is something I am supposed to do and if you know me at all, I follow those type of feelings and it usually pays off in the end.

Lets hope I find no more mold, no more mice and only amazing things.

I wanted to end on a blessing note. I found a 12mm movie shown at the top of my mother at the state capitol and in the state parade as a state beauty queen before she married! I also found two more records and one has my mother singing and my grandmother playing the piano on it! There are blessings to be found amongst the mold and mice!

Have a Blessed Day!