MY METAL BABY CRIB

Barbara Maineri ©2011

I always admired the image of the sweet baby face impressed on the head of my metal baby crib. The crib was a dark brown but the face made it just right for a child. My three younger brothers each slept in that bed as well. It was sturdy, probably not up to the standards of today as I'm sure the slats were wide enough for a baby's head or legs to get caught in them, but we all survived. When we visited my folks in Houston in 1958, my son, Paul, slept in that bed.

Not the original crib

Ron and I had purchased a wooden crib when Paul was born, and we also used it for Susan. However, that bed was not as sturdy as my old bed, and we no longer had it when our third child was about to come along. Rather than purchase a new bed, perhaps my old brown baby bed would be nice. I thought about painting it a lighter color to make it more appealing, so I asked my mother, “Mimi, I remember that my old metal baby bed was still in good shape about six years ago when Paul was a baby. Could I use it for our new baby?”

“Oh, honey,” Mimi replied, “I don't have the bed any more. Carla took it.”

“What, Carla took it? You mean she just took it? Why did you let her take it? Who is Carla anyway? Why don't you get it back? All of your children slept in that bed and now I could use it for my new baby, and she just – took it?” I said angrily.

“Oh, no, you don't understand. We were staying in Port O'Connor for the summer, and I had taken the bed down there for your brother. We got the notice to evacuate quickly and didn't have time to pack the crib. Carla was the hurricane that was coming. She did a lot of damage and destroyed the house where we staying. We returned to look around later, but we never did find the bed. Carla took it! She took just about every house there.” Mimi explained. “Carla even took Uncle Bill Madden who wouldn't evacuate. She was fierce.”

Growing up on the Gulf Coast, I knew about hurricanes and respected their wrath. In 1961, Carla, a Category 5 hurricane, struck Port O'Connor head on. The storm surge was 22 feet which completely covered that area and 10 miles inland. We were living in England at the time and I didn't realize how bad it was until we returned. I knew my little baby bed with the sweet cherub face had survived four rambunctious babies could not stand up to Carla.