We purchased this crib almost eleven years ago when I was pregnant with Eliza. It was getting down to the wire and every time we planned to go crib shopping something came up. Finally, the day came and we were going to go to Holmes County to pick one up. We left really, really early because John had a few things to get done later in the day.
We made it there about 7:30 in the morning, but unfortunately for him, none of the shops were open until 10. So we sat in a Burger King for hours waiting, it had started to snow and the roads were getting bad.
Finally, time to start shopping
Once we were able to start shopping it didn’t take long before I fell in love with a beautiful, cherry sleigh crib. It was gorgeous. It was everything that I had dreamed of, and yes, I was absolutely dreaming of cribs. I think I shed a tear at just how perfect it was.
John got real nervous at this point. He got out his tape measure and started shaking his head. He went back out to the car and did some more measurements. It wasn’t going to fit. I know that I shed a few tears at this point.
We could either come back a different day with a bigger vehicle or keep looking. We were out of days. So we kept looking. Shortly after, we found this crib. It wasn’t a beautiful sleigh bed but it would work.
Finding the crib a home
Once we made it home, John assembled it right away… In the living room. It was too big to slide back to the bedroom. So he unassembled it and reassembled it.
A month after Eliza was born we moved to the house where we live now. The house wasn’t ready when we moved in and we slept on the porch (true story). The crib was assembled there. When our bedroom was done, the crib was moved there. When Eliza’s room was done, we moved the crib there. Little Henry was born and the crib was relocated once again. It has stayed at this spot for the last eight years.
None of our kids really slept in the crib very long. They were in the bassinet and then some nights after nursing them I would be too lazy to bring them back. All of them transitioned into a big kid bed early.
John always joked that he had assembled and reassembled it more times than the kids had slept in it.
Greta has been in a big girl bed for a while. And any dreams of a new baby coming along have been crushed. And we really could use the extra space. The little decisions are hard, but the big ones are brutal.
So tonight, the crib comes down. For the last time. It seems so wrong that it is me taking it down, alone. Closing this chapter without him by my side.
In the Blink of a Fly is led by Leah Fullenkamp. Leah is the mother of four young children. Their lives were tragically altered after a crash caused by distracted driving killed her husband and her children’s father. This website is the tale of them learning to live again and serves as a passion project to help prevent distracted driving and this tragedy from happening to someone else.
