Crib

CRIB

For years it sat up in the rafters of our garage along with other dusty forgotten items. What else do you do with an old crib after seven babies have put on miles of wear, the finish chewed off, not to mention that after this long it doesn’t even meet code. But you can’t bring yourself to part with it. So you tie it up in an old mattress box, hoist it up and everyone forgets about it. But I never really forget. In the rush of the coming and going years.. I glance up occasionally keeping the memories bound up in my heart like the crib… tied up in bungee cords laying up there in the rafters.
After years of accumulation the garage is filled with things no one really needs, or wants for that matter. Richard resolutely decides to find a day for a clean sweep. After making plans with Brenda and David to bring their trailer… they set a date and went to work. Under Richard’s direction one thing after another was tossed into the trailer. Finally he came to the crib, and then is when I voiced my plea not to make that decision yet, perhaps a later time. But NO! He was on a roll he had made a decision and there was no stopping him. Finally the trailer was filled, ready to head for the dump.
I’m not sure what created the necessity that “I” ride to the dump with David and the kids. I suppose I was the only person home with proof of Bountiful City residency. “Why do I have to witness this unfairness?” I sat in the back on purpose, hoping my tears would go unnoticed.
It was done! It was over! There was nothing that could change it. David brought me home then headed for home himself.
What took place after that; I wasn’t to know for at least four months. When David arrived home he told Brenda, “ I feel terrible for your mom because she was crying all the way home from the dump.” Brenda has always been a softhearted sweetheart and also someone who can make things happen and happen quickly. She called her brother Craig and told him they had to hurry to the dump and find that crib. He met her there and with a sad story to the gatekeeper, they were allowed to go search for their moms’ old crib, the very crib in which both of them had spent the first years of their life. Finally, after a near hopeless search, they spied the yellow mattress… there, there was the crib! Lovingly they began gathering it up, when an on looking couple who, coincidently, were also disposing of a crib, said to them, “If you want… you can have ours, I think it is in better shape.” The couple was impressed as Brenda explained the purpose for the frantic scavenger hunt. The crib was then taken home to hide in Brenda and David’s garage.
Brenda had a plan and David went to work with his wood working talent. By Christmas the old crib had been cut down to scale and had become an incredibly, beautiful, doll crib.
Brenda made a small mattress, tiny bumper pads and blankets, bought seven little dolls, 2 girls and 5 boys, put them affectionately in the crib and placed a large box over the entire thing, ready to present as a gift to me.
Christmas day 1998, all the kids came, not wanting to be left out of the surprise when the large wrapped box was delivered.
I have had surprises in my life, but none to compare before or since. When the box was lifted off and there in my own family room stood the abandoned crib.. in miniature, My Crib! The overwhelming shock couldn’t have been more powerful than had my mother resurrected and stood beside me. All I could do was bury my face in my hands and weep.
That was for certain, the most thoughtful, selfless and caring gift I have ever received.