A few months ago, my sister Eileen was kind enough to send us the bassinet she used for her daughters Sara, Sophie and Susan. Here’s a picture of Claire snoozing in it today:
There’s a long history of this particular family heirloom (going back 75+ years). Click on the Comments link below to see some of the stories.
Dear Claire,
Your bassinet is 87 years old and part of a long family tradition. It was used by my three older brothers and then by my twin brother Michael and me. Your great-grandmother saved it through the years until I needed it for my children David, Eileen, Mona and Stuart. Now, you’re joining your cousins Sara, Sophie and Susan as the third generation to cuddle in it.
Sleep well!
Love, Nana West
I don’t remember sleeping in the bassinet, but it must have been a good resting spot as I have grown into a champion sleeper! Claire – your Mom and Dad would sure appreciate it if you sleep well in it too…
Love, Aunt Mona
Claire — After they refurbished the bassinet in 1999, your grandparents had to ship it from Connecticut to New Orleans, where your cousin Sara was just arriving on the scene. They told the story in an email, which I’ve patched together below from some old printouts.
Love, Aunt Mona
From: Peter West
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 1999 10:48 PM
Subject: THE BIG BOX
Hello All,
We have been very busy for the past month or so repairing, sanding, painting, and sewing Mona’s bassinet (which also served for David, Eileen, Monabeth, and Stuart) so we could get it down to New Orleans for the third generation. We finally finished last week and were ready to start packing it for shipment.
This is the SAGA of the bassinet, its packing, and the journey from our house to the New Haven Amtrak Station.
We were going to pack it ourselves, but had second thoughts when we saw how big the box would have to be and how fragile the contents were. Took it to the local mailbox/shipping place and was told it would cost $85 to PACK it. Shipping not included! Furthermore, the dimensions would have to be 4 ft by 3 ft by 3 ft (A VERY BIG BOX INDEED). These dimensions however would not be acceptable to UPS, FedEx, or any of the other package shipping companies.
What to do?
Mona found there was a local freight company — information was from the font of all knowledge, namely the local hairdresser — that might take it. They were willing to ship something that large at a freight cost of $196.
That was the end of that one. Anxiety was stirring.
Then she thought of Amtrak. The main office had told her about a month ago the maximum size they could handle was 4 ft in each dimension. That sounded good, but when she called last Wednesday they told her it couldn’t go from Hartford if any dimension was greater than 3 ft. That killed the plan to take it to Harford.
Our anxiety level was rising at this point.
Then Mona called New Haven and was told the same. But, never giving up (a charactristic of hers in case you hadn’t noticed), she told the dispatcher the head office had said 4 ft was OK from New Haven, but not from Hartford. He said he would ask his supervisor — which he did. Word came back that 4 ft was OK for one dimension, but that the box positively couldn’t contain anything fragile — particularly furniture.
Anxiety going down a little.
So we had the monster packed up (a box inside a box), and paid the king’s ransom. Went to pick it up and take it to New Haven, but there was a small problem. It wouldn’t fit into the car because the doors were to narrow, and it was much too big for the trunk. Finally, with the help of the young man at the store we were able to tie it to the top part of the open trunk (resting on the fenders) with the lid all the way up. The car looked like a mouse carrying at elephant. On top of that, when we set out, the whole contraption looked and sounded like it was going to fall out at 65 mph on I-95.
Not a good idea! Anxiety now back up to a high level.
Called up David Cardone, our neighborhood mechanic, and asked if he knew anyone who had a pickup we could borrow or rent (hoping he might have one, but not asking directly). Unfortunately, he didn’t have one but he suggested a truck rental place in Clinton. That might have been a good idea, but Clinton is halfway to New Haven and if we could get that far without a disaster, we could probably go all the way.
What to do?
We decided to go to David’s and see if one of his mechanics could fasten it down more securely, and then drive to New Haven on Route 1 to avoid not only potential catastrophe, but also all those cops waiting to hand out tickets for unsafe loads on Interstate 95. David took one look, shook his head, and said in a doubtful tone that they would try to tie it down better. He got some rope and called a young mechanic who came out and looked at the monster. I asked him if he could do it. He said it was a piece of cake because he had jobs in high school in Christmas tree lots. That experience made him an EXPERT at taking big things in small cars.
He was! He was!
Our expert tied it down so securely it would have taken the atomic bomb to dislodge it. We then asked him how to get to New Haven via the back roads. He gave us a route I had never been on before. Said there wouldn’t be any traffic, that it had a maximum 40 or 45 mph speed limit, and no cops either.
He was right!
45 minutes later the mouse carrying the elephant rolled up to Amtrak in New Haven with the elephant still securely in place. They came out to the car and took the beast inside. The manager said 4 ft was OK — and that as long as we had nothing fragile or perishable inside we were in business. He suggested we take off the Fragile stickers because they were like red to a bull to the package handlers. He filled out a bill of lading, charged an exhorbitant $27.50 for freight all the way to New Orleans, and told us it would be there by the weekend.
How about that?
END OF STORY. AND IT’S ALL TRUE.
Peter & Mona
P.S. The elephant arrived on Monday in perfect condition!!!
The story is all true and gives us joy to hear of another grandchild happily cuddling in this bassinet.
Love Nana and Poppa West
Yes, I remember the saga well. Fortunately, the bassinet arrived in New Orleans in excellent condition way back in 1999, and we were able to drive Abbas’ pickup to the station and get it. Now, there’s a really good story about Sara unwittingly enrolling her baby sister into a rather death-defying circus act with that bassinet, but that’s a story for another–much later–time! When Claire is the big sister I’ll be happy to share it with you.
So, the bassinet went on the moving truck to Oklahoma in 2002, a month before Sophie needed it. Susan had it last, in early 2004. We spiffed it up a bit after its most recent workout, and then tried to figure out how to get it to California. Fortunately for us, we had the perfect size box from the construction of our new home, and after splurging on $25 of popcorn and partially disassembling the piece, I hauled it to the UPS Store in our ultimate baby-mobile, the Honda Odyssey minivan. Someone at UPS had wised up to big boxes since 1999 (probably to move all the monster sized furniture people seem to be buying these days), and the size didn’t scare them a bit, though the pricetag was decidedly frightening. I’m very glad that the bassinet arrived in good shape, that Stu was able to figure out how to put it back together, and most importantly that little Claire is resting peacefully (at least some of the time) in this wonderful heirloom.
Love, Eileen