A Gift for my Son

One of the stained glass panels in the Arts Building of Targu Mures / Marosvásárhely in Romania / Erdély was of a mother rocking her child to sleep. The child is dreaming, which is represented by the artist as bubbles filled with colorful stars. The actual image is spread across three separate stained glass windows with breaks in between them.

Originally, this window did not capture my attention. The window representing the devil beguiling the fair maiden was the "cooler" artwork in the room. However, as I worked through reproducing the 12 individuals windows (see previous blog post from Sept 15), this one was sitting at the end, ready to be conquered. When I finally was ready to do it, I realized just how amazing this stained glass was.

The painting represents one of the most loving moments in a mother's life - rocking her child to sleep. When a child goes to sleep, he is trusting his parents to guard him throughout the night. The safer he feels in his bed, the better he sleeps. It should create a powerful emotion in any parent or child.

What's further interesting about the scene is that it is not taking place in the child's bedroom. This room appears to be the kitchen and family room. The kitchen because of the jugs hanging on the wall and the large oven in the corner in which bread and other food is prepared. This would also make it the warmest room in the house, which is why it was where the family would congregate. This is being represented by the loom next to the oven.

In our modern lives with our huge houses, we have a room for every activity. However, no more than 100+ years ago, most families probably only had two rooms: a joint family bedroom and a room for everything else. There is something comforting about having everything be located in one or two rooms; it probably brings the family closer together. Although with today's concepts of privacy and space, this may be overwhelming for those living in Western Culture.

This piece represents home, love, and tranquility. And it is why I chose this piece to be a gift for my newborn son. He is only 9 months old, and he needs all of these positive emotions and feelings of support and love. And although he is too young to appreciate this gift, we are giving it to him a symbol of how much we care about him. I hope that one day he will understand and know that it is our goal as parents to make him dream sweet dreams and feel loved.