Our Very Own Giving Tree

We were able to put the cradle together and it is ready for baby. Right now its in the nursery although I suspect we’ll move it to our room when he comes home with us so he can be closer at night for the first few weeks/months.

The cradle was made by my Father before I was born and I slept in it as did my sister later on. This week I’d emailed him about what the wood was (Walnut) and received information about its origins that I hadn’t known or at least hadn’t remembered. I share it here because a) I want to remember it and b) it’s a story that makes me very happy.

The wood the cradle was made of is walnut and came from a floor joist from a building in Miami, MO that was being torn down, I presume in the 70s or so. The building was one-hundred years old and my Father suspected the trees were at least that old or older.

I’ve always loved the cradle for obvious nostalgia reasons, but I loved this story. It’s such a brilliant repurposing of materials so that they can continue to be used and have life beyond. Somewhere back in the 1700s a tree started growing, and it got chopped down to be a building, and at some point someone decided (whether rightfully so or not) that the building had no more use, but my Father saw the opportunity for some of the materials in the building to see more use. So the tree still lives on and carried two babies, and will soon hold another one. It’s very Giving Tree-esque.

Stories like these, along with all of the antiques I grew up with make me realise it’s not really a surprise that I have a soft spot for old houses and well-made furniture. It’s not surprising when I grow furious at the cavalier destruction of an older building because it is merely inconvenient. Or that should there be no other choice but to tear it down, I advocate stripping out for salvage any element that could be repurposed or reused and grow frustrated when that sort of salvage reuse is not even considered.

This is environmentally sound, green living, but I think so much as the reuse, recycle, mantra has been repeated buildings are not always thought of in that context and so they are burned or bull-dozed without thought to what is being lost in the process or what could be gained from just taking a moment to see.