Five Generations of Family Tradition

cradle

My daughter Michelle and I just put together a family tradition.

I am with her awaiting the arrival of her first child—any day now.

Her baby boy will have the privilege of sleeping in a cradle his great, great grandfather slept in.

The cradle was handmade in 1887 for my grandfather as a baby.  It rocks, with a simple locking mechanism when it shouldn’t rock.  It is still beautiful and trustworthy.

My father and uncle and my sisters and I all spent our first months sleeping there.  Since then it has traveled from Texas to Colorado and back several times, to Montana to Florida and now back to Colorado so that all of the latest generations have rested there as well.

I love this tradition.  In our very mobile world, when families have to fight to maintain connection and traditions are disappearing, this is a beautiful long line of connectedness from generation to generation.

So this new little boy will be tangibly connected over 125 years with five generations of family.

Pretty awesome!

What about you?  How do you maintain family traditions and connection?

C2012 Judy Douglass