Digging Through the Past

Has it been a rainy late spring/early summer where you live? It certainly has been here. Many of the homes in NE Ohio have basements, which can flood easily in these conditions. My mother's basement, in the house I grew up in, floods very easily, water even coming up through the floor. So my two sisters and I, my daughter the Dancer, and my niece, went through my mom's basement on Saturday, cleaning items out in preparation for some new waterproofing. And to rescue items from the damp and mildew. Yuck! (Not to mention two dead mice in a trap. Fortunately, Mr. BTEG was around by that time to dispose of them.)

There were lots of cool things down there, and some things that should have been disposed of long ago. There were also some things that didn't belong in high humidity, like a picture of a family member from around the turn of the century. Some old newspapers headlining the Allies' victory in Europe, and the first moon landing, were saved by being in a cedar chest. My mother found her high school diploma, graduation tassel, and class picture. We also discovered two pairs of wooden shoes and a white Dutch cap from my mother's visits to Holland, Michigan, where they still promote the Netherlands. Several hats belonging to my grandmother, and a pair of my sister's old character shoes, are going to our local high school drama club. My sisters and I also found a lot of things that were ours when we were girls. There was lots of laughing over old times. I don't want to go through all that work again anytime soon, though, especially not in a humid basement!