Two years ago on a visit to Rejuvenation Hardware, I spied an usual piece of stained glass depicting branches with pink cherry blossoms. Most stained glass is a little over the top for me, but this one really stood out for its simplicity. I had just the spot for it too, mounted in the frame of a small window at the foot of the stairs that lead up to our bedroom.
So, for my birthday, my mom and I split the cost and I became the happy owner of a David Schlicker piece of stained glass.
The next year, Kes and I embarked on our Endless Remodel. Daily, I would pass the window and think to myself, “I should really take that window out so nothing bad will happen to it.” Except I didn’t, and it did, in the form of a 2×4 that came sailing through one day, breaking both the window and the stained glass mounted in the frame.
Our contractor agreed to replace the window (it would be the one window in the entire house we weren’t planning on replacing anyway) and I took the fractured stained glass back to David Schlicker to see if it could be repaired. He explained it would less costly to make a new one. So, 6 weeks later, my new stained glass was ready. The window itself wasn’t so the stained glass piece floated about the house from room to room, avoiding the thick of the construction insanity.
Then, one night in May as I sat on the couch trying to breathe through some increasingly insistent contractions, Kes pointed out to me that the new piece had somehow acquired cracks. This wasn’t something I wanted to even think about my heavily pregnant state. In fact, it took me six weeks to come around to it. People would come by our house, notice the damaged cherry blossom piece, then look at the expression on my face and realize it would be better to change the subject. I wanted someone, anyone, to deal with it.
Of course, no one did and this week I’ve finally come to terms with the problem. I got a quote for repair and the new window arrived and was installed yesterday. Then, out of something like morbid curiosity, I checked to make sure the new stained glass would fit in the new window frame.
It doesn’t! Not even close! Hence, great angst.