Valerie Watts was expecting and excited to meet her son Noah. She regularly went for check-ups and was always happy to see him developing and getting his nourishment.
Until her baby reached his final gestation weeks. Noah’s umbilical cord was pinched inside which was cutting off his oxygen supply.
“All week, I knew…He wasn’t moving as much, I was very nervous.” Valerie recalled.
Valerie gave birth to a stillborn son. She would never hear his cry, or get to cradle him to sleep. All of her hopes and dreams as a mother was gone. She was devastated.
The grieving mother soon decided to be rid of the crib she bought for Noah. She set-up a garage sale so she could sell all of the stuff that reminded her of her child.
That’s when Gerald Kumpula saw the garage sale. Gerald is a skilled woodworker and took interest with the crib. He approached Valerie with his wife and asked about the crib.
Kumpula has a wood workshop in his garage on the outskirts of Cokato.
He specializes in transforming head-boards and foot-boards into benches.
“She was kind of hesitant,” Gerald shared. “I knew that maybe she didn’t want to sell it, but yet, she did.”
“When he asked me if I was selling that, that he made benches, I hesitated,” Valerie confirmed.
It was understandable that she didn’t want to part with a crib that was meant for her baby boy.
As the couple looked around, Gerald’s wife spoke to Valerie.
“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, and I told her that he had passed in July,” Valerie recalled of the moment with Gerald’s wife.
As they were driving back home, the elderly couple had a discussion which soon led them to a wonderful idea. They will return the crib they had bought with a few modifications here and there.
Valerie never expected the thoughtful decision.
Gerald is good at tweaking and transforming head-boards and foot-boards into benches, so he thought of using his talent with Noah’s crib.
The husband and wife surprised Valerie after the week they met. They presented her with their gift. They modified and turned Noah’s crib into a chair, something Valerie could now use herself.
“I started crying instantly,” Valerie shared when she saw and received the crib turned chair.
What was once a painful reminder of her baby boy has now become a bench. Something she could sit on that would comfort her with the wonderful memories of carrying her Noah.
“It’s amazing. There are good people out there, there’s proof in Cokato.” Valerie continued.
In a world full of problems, good people like Gerald and his wife are beacons of hope. They serve to remind us that we get to choose good everyday. It’s up to us to pay it forward.
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