This grieving mother was shocked when the buyer returned her dead son’s crib a week after she sold it at a yard sale. Anticipating the arrival of a baby provides me with great delight. Soon-to-be parents are ecstatic as they imagine the bliss that comes with welcoming a new bundle of joy.

Valerie Watts was eager to see her baby’s face, but the birth of a stillborn son crushed her joy and emotions. Her pregnancy went smoothly until things changed abruptly. “All week, I knew,” Watts reminisced. “He wasn’t moving too much. “I was extremely nervous.” The womb squeezed Baby Noah’s umbilical cord, ending his life before it began. Watts was still quite sad. Even though her son did not live, she couldn’t bring herself to get rid of the cot she had bought for him. Having it in her house acted as a continual reminder of the terrible incident.

Gerald Kumpula recalled that she appeared unsure. He believed she would not want to sell it, but she eventually did. Kumpula lived nearby and owned a workshop on the outskirts of Cokato. When he saw the crib at the Watts family’s garage sale, he wanted to buy it, even though it wasn’t for sale. “When he asked me if I was selling that, that he made benches, I hesitated,” Watts told me. At the time, Kumpulas was unfamiliar with the crib story. “His wife was there looking through my garage sale—at some of the baby clothes—and asked how old my son was since I don’t use the crib anymore. I told her that he had passed in July,” Watts said. Kumpulas identified the crib as belonging to the Watts family and returned it after making some adjustments. “I started crying instantly,” Watts added. Kumpulas’ cradle bench serves as both a remembrance of tough times and a source of comfort for the mourning parents.