Today ~ It was the best of days. It was the worst of days.
A truly joyous beginning. At last, at long last, more windows being installed into their frames. Ready to be put back in place. One step closer to the finish line. Hallelujah!
I have thirty-seven windows ready to be installed. This is in addition to the twenty that are already back in their places, hiding behind a plywood shield, waiting...waiting for the day of the ultimate window reveal. That day I am sure that the angels will be singing. Bluebirds of happiness will fly out of places only spoken of in whispered tones. All of heaven will be smiling down, I'm just sure of it.
But the journey to that ultimate goal continues to be long. Did I mention that some of these "new" windows are indeed new for the second time? No? Darn, that must have slipped my mind.
Deep breath...okay, so there was the day in November when a stray pit bull pit bull got into the church, came up to the third floor studio, and managed to get tangled up in a group of windows leaning against the end of a work table, crashing six of them to the ground right-in-front-of-my-face. Nice Doggy.
I had to take a moment, people. Maybe I had to take a week. I don't remember.
I also probably didn't mention the time this Spring that I came back from a trip to find two more windows badly broken and four completely missing. I guess I figured since no one had any information on what happened, there really wasn't much of a story to tell. My bad.
The bottom line on all of this pillage and plunder is that I have spent the past ten weeks repairing and replacing that which had already been done. Now I am at a total of sixty-nine windows with only fifty-seven to show for it. Man, I hate "fuzzy" math.
So the good part of today? New guys with 20+ years of experience coming to handle these windows...professionals who have contracted with some of the largest and most beautiful churches in town. Are the angels singing yet?
Not yet. First we had to have a discussion on how the glazing would be handled, because "Thanks, but we won't be using silicone to hold these in place. Even if you do it all the time. No, really. But thanks". If The Boy would someday need to have one of them removed for a repair, I would hate to think that he would need to have it pretty much smashed around the edges to get it out. But hey, that's just me...I'm funny like that.
So, no problem, glazing compound it is. Old school. Time-honored. Whew.
They got two windows put in the frames today, in a little over an hour. Impressive. The glazing around the edges looks beautiful. It's obvious they've done this many, many times. I'm feeling really relieved.
Until I walk up close, while they are leaning in the light, and see that one is broken at the top. I'm sure from one of the metal glazing "points" that are used under the putty, to hold the glass firmly against the wood. One of two windows. Broken. Again. It's only one piece, but the whole thing is going to have to be removed (again) from the frame to be carefully replaced. It's one of the long curved green pieces at the top above the "shield", so it won't be easy to get out. Or put back in, for that matter. The fact that I remained calm when faced with this discovery should have in all fairness caused my head to explode. Instead I left to take another moment. Or maybe it was an hour. I don't remember.
When I returned, the professionals were gone.
What happens next? I'm not sure, but I won't be the least bit surprised if I never see these guys again. Meanwhile, I'll just keep building, and someday "they" will come. I hope they hurry.
Amen.
Hey, thanks for coming to my pity-party. You are all such good friends. Be sure to pick up your party favors on the way out. :)
