My Mom and my Papa and Auntie used to send recordings back and forth from Michigan to Florida on cassette. It was their way of sending letters but instead of writing they would record themselves talking. It is nothing short of amazing that I have managed to hold onto a couple of these with as many times as I've moved. Not to mention that they still play too.
For a good week I had contemplated about how I was going to get my Mom's recording to the computer. No one has cassette players anymore. Even if I managed to find a cassette player what were the chances that I would be able to find a player that would allow me to digitize the recording to the computer?
I finally figured that if there was any place that could do it that it would be the place I goto to get my demo reels duplicated. The problem was that it was now Thursday morning only a few days before Mothers Day and I was never going to be able to make it to this company, get the cassette transfered to CD, picked up and put on my blog by Mothers Day. The one chance I had was to take the tapes to work with me and call around looking for a company near my office that could do it.
So I put the tapes in my tank bag, hop on my motorcycle and start heading to work. I stop at a light just before getting onto the freeway and notice a company van ahead of me that has lettering all over it describing it's duplicating services. It belongs to a company like the one I am trying to find. I'm on my motorcycle so I pull up between the cars and stop right next to him. I motion for him to roll down his window and ask him if he can digitize my audio cassettes. He says he can and that if I give him a call he would meet me near my house, take the tapes to work, digitize them and deliver them to me.
I got to work and called the guy I had just met and asked if I could give him the tapes Friday morning and get them back Friday night. He tells me that he is going in for surgery and wouldn't be able to pick them up from me till Monday. When I explained to him that they were for Mothers Day he said that he was sending a courier to my office to pick them up. He was sending a courier from Burbank to Culver City which is a good 1 1/2 hour drive at that time of the day. I'm very grateful but at the same time I'm wondering how much this is going to cost me.
He calls me at 10:00 pm Friday night and says that I can pick up the CD's at his house which is near my home. I grab my check book and run out the door. When I pull up to his house he is waiting in the garage and hands me the tapes and the CD's. I pull out my check book and ask him what I owe him and he says don't worry about it just send some work my way.
There was nothing subtle about the way my prayers were answered- it was loud and clear.
This is a recording of Mom and Michele in 1974. Mom was 36 years old and Michele was 4 years old.
No comments:
Post a Comment