They both help

They both help
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

This is the old cradle that has held all the babies in our family for a hundred years. Grandma Smith's cousins, Ed and Myra McDaniel gave it to her when she began her family. It originally had rockers, but when my mom needed it for her babies Granddaddy Smith took off the rockers and put wheels on it so mom could easily pull it from room to room. By the time I got to use it for Sarah (1982-1983) it had two or three of the spindles missing. I don't know how long they had been gone. I wanted to repair it long ago, but didn't get around to doing it then, nor did I do it when Stella and Daniel needed a cradle (1992 and 1993). Still all my children slept in it. My mom made it safe by making a soft bumper pad to go around the inside edges. Finally when Wendy and I were expecting Luke, I did get to work on the old cradle. I took it apart and had new spindles made by a local man, Mr Rawls, who lives on Pole Pocosin Rd. He made the replacements out of poplar. They were from the heartwood which is green in color. You can see two of them, one at each end of the cradle, in this picture. This picture shows mom and dad helping me to get it all back together. If you ever have to take it apart again, do color code or number the pieces so it goes together more easily.

I also repainted it all white again when we were finished with it. We only have need of it for 4 or 5 months and then the babies become too active.

Using the cradle for all of our babies is a tradition and we hope you will use it, too, as you begin your families. It is just a little piece of furniture that we treasure and it has a special place in our family history. The rocking chair that grandaddy and grandmama Heath gave to mom for rocking her babies and the little red rocker that they gave to mom for her children are the other special pieces of furniture that have a special meaning to us. More treasures that come to mind are great great granddaddy James Mack Pollock's little religious instruction book for young christians. Then there's the little darning basket which was the only thing granddaddy Heath had that had belonged to his parents (they died when he was 4). Aunt Mary Elizabeth gave me that and I love her for it. Also there is William Washington Pollock's bull horn that he used for calling his hounds and Great granddaddy Smith's gold pocket watch, and there are a few others that I can't remember right now.

I think that grandma Smith's old foot powered National Sewing Machine (purchased in 1916 according to the receipt in the drawer) is a treasure. Other things are becoming treasures because of the thoughts and feeling they bring forth. Mom's sewing machine would be hard to part with because I have seen her spend so many hours making clothes for herself and us. She has used it to hem pants for me and still does. She altered Sarah's wedding gown and made new bedding for the cradle when Luke came. I remember the "yenyenyenyenyenyen" sound that it made all these decades.

I treasure Dad's bear tooth, bear claw and rattlesnake rattle necklaces/truck ornaments. I will discover lots of other treasures as time goes on. These objects are most valuable because of the memories they evoke. They remind of us a story from the history of our family or they just give us a feeling when we look at them. I keep Grandma Smith's old linens and lace just because I saw her handle them with love and care. I remember the way she looked at them and that they evoked powerful memories for her. I haven't located the old socks that were made from the cotton on her daddy's farm and dyed with indigo that they also grew, but I can still see her handling them and I can still hear her speak of them as she carefully lifted them out of the old trunk and slowly unfolded them.