Monday, July 1, 2013

HAVE CRADLE, WILL TRAVEL.

I like road trips. I always have, since I was a little kid. I wanted to be one of the guys from the old TV show "Route 66. "  I also wanted to be on the ultimate road trip. On the TV show "Wagon Train" with Ward Bond, they were on their way to California, but never seemed to get there.

Anyway, I was gone most of last week. I went on a road trip with my sister. Not the most happy happy, let's have some fun type of sister. She is way older than me (by two years) and does not really know how to have a good time. Her idea of a good time is teaching water aerobics at the rec' center. Or watching a documentary on stained glass.

Me? I like to boogie (like that word?) down the road. And if I see something that catches my interest, I stop and check it out. I like history, so a lot of the historical markers and such are a must stop, and read, and look. But, with my sister doing some of the driving, we didn't do a whole lot of that.

We were on a mission, of sorts. My brother-in-law made a old style baby cradle. We were taking it  from Denver to a little town just south of Seattle, Washington. It was for a young couple who just had their first child, a little boy. My sister asked me if I would go with her on this trip, and I felt honored to do so. You see, the young man had been in the same unit as my nephew who was killed a couple years ago. I had met him at a picnic in my nephew's honor some years back, here in Colorado.


This young man is now out of the service from wounds he received in Afghanistan. He is now a proud father. Robert, my brother in-law, made this cradle for his new little boy. It will be a family heirloom to be handed down through the generations to come. I was honored to get to go with my sister to deliver the cradle.

It gave my sister and I a chance to talk and to reminisce about our childhoods and to talk about family. Things that she remembered at times, I could not remember. And, if I brought something up, she also could not remember some things. We were in a hurry, but not in a big hurry. When we arrived at their home, there was excitement and hugs, and a few tears. My sister held the baby for awhile and would not give him up so I could hold him. But that's okay.

We stayed and chatted, drank some ice tea, and I took some pictures. My sister and I left and drove on into Seattle to a hotel for some good sleep. I found out on the first night on the road that sleeping in a reclined front seat of a Subaru Outback at a truck stop does NOT make for a good few hours of sleep.

I also found out that it takes Robert several months to do one of these cradles. I think the man is wasting his time driving a truck. He ought to be making more of these and the wooden toys that he makes. I think he could make a good living at it. Unless my sister likes him out of the house now and then when he is on the road.

(continued tomorrow)

6 comments:

  1. beautiful family, you are blessed. the rat

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    1. mohave rat, thank you. They are really a nice young couple. I'm proud to to him, and his wife and little one.

      Thanks for stopping by.

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  2. Flier,

    God Bless your nephew who fought for our freedom, may he rest with the angels.

    This cradle is gorgeous, your BIL Robert is a very talented man.

    I'm happy to hear you and your sister were able to have good quality time together to talk about the past.

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    1. Sandy, thank you. I'm sure he has all of them running around up there. LOL! My sister and I did, get a lot of talking done. If my Dad had been with us, he would of said that we were like a couple of old hens, just cackling away.
      Robert is pretty good at wood working. He has been offered like $400.00 + for a cradle. It takes his several months to get one done. The first one he did was done in maple. Wish I had a picture of it. Oh well.

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  3. Replies
    1. Linda, thanks for stopping by. I think he surprises himself, every now and then. This is the second one he has done. The first one was done in maple. And this one was done in pine.

      I think he may start taking orders for some cradles soon. (Maybe that means more road trips in the future.) He is also starting to make kids wooden toy's. He says it sure beats driving a company truck over the road. And he finds it relaxing.

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