| Things have been pretty crazy with the whole Rodriguez family in town! We’ve mostly spent our time relaxing together, cooking, shopping and enjoying each other’s company. Right now, Javier’s mom Meri is wildly happy cleaning our house with our brand new steam cleaner – she LOVES it, and I love that our house looks and smells totally clean. Cora, Javier’s grandmother, is sitting next to me breaking up nuts for “pan de pascua” or Christmas bread (for all you Spanish geniuses out there who aren’t familiar with Chilean Spanish, pascua in Chile is Easter and Christmas, depending on the context). | Las cosas han estado muy locas por aqui con toda la familia Rodriguez visitandonos! Hemos pasado la mayoria del tiempo juntos relajandonos, cocinando, comprando, y disfrutando de la compania. Ahora, la mama de Javier, Meri, esta feliz usando nuestra maquina de vapor para limpiar la casa – le ENCANTA, y me encanta que nuestra casa huela a limpio. Cora, la abuela de Javier, esta sentada al lado mio partiendo nueces para pan de pascua. |
| So I’ve been building up some suspense among family and friends about the presentation of a most wonderful, beautiful door that they shipped to us from Santiago. So here’s the story of the door. Three years ago on my first trip to Chile, Javier and I took a 12 hour road trip down south to pick up his grandma in Osorno and bring her back to Santiago for Christmas (by the way, starting in Santiago and driving 12 hours south doesn’t get you anywhere near the southern most point!). On the way home, we stopped at Javier’s paternal grandparents’ house to visit with both of them. These grandparents lived in Temuco, and had a charming yellow house with a beautiful rose garden (one of his grandfather’s many hobbies). As soon as I walked in the house it was clear to me where Javier got his artistic abilities. All over the house were little arts and crafts that his grandfather made – some out of painted popsicle sticks, paintings and all manner of beautiful items. Nothing was more amazing, though, than his little workshop / sanctuary in the shed underneath the house. | Asi que he estado aguantando la presentacion de la puerta mas bonita que existe y que ellos nos enviaron desde Santiago. Asi que aqui va la historia de la puerta. Tres anos atras, en mi primer viaje a Chile, Javier y yo manejamos 12 horas al sur para ir a buscar a su abuela en Osorno y traerla a Santiago para Navidad (a todo esto a pesar de manejar tanto todavia no quedamos ni cerca del punto mas al sur de Chile). En el camino a casa, paramos en casa de los abuelo paternos de Javier para visitarlos. Los abuelos vivian en Temuco, en una casita amarilla muy coqueta con un jardin de rosas precioso (el hobby de su abuelo). Tan pronto como entre a la casa era claro ver de donde salieron las habilidad artisticas de Javier. Por toda la casa habian pequenas artesanias que hizo su abuelo – algunos palos de helado pintados, pinturas, y un monton de otras cosas muy bonitas. Nada era mas genial que su pequeno santuario / lugar de trabajo en el garage de su casa. |
| The whole sanctuary was painted bright colors and he had beautiful ribbons hanging from the wall with photos and paintings strung on the ribbons. Everything was so perfectly in its place…and for a minute I was crestfallen because Javier told me I couldn’t take photos, but then his grandfather said that of course I could take photos and immediately posed with Javier in front of his work bench. It was such a great moment! The most jaw-dropping art in all of this, though, was the door that marked the entrance of the sanctuary. He had painted the door to follow John chapter 1 verse 7 in the Bible and it’s just breathtaking. I fell in love with the door right away, and took a few photos of it. | Todo el santuario estaba pintado con colores my vivos y tenia cintas muy bonitas colgadas de la muralla con fotos y pinturas sujetadas con las cintas. Todo estaba puesto en su lugar perfecto….y por un minuto me dio mucha pena porque Jvier me dijo que no sacara fotos, pero despues su abuelo me dijo que por supuesto podia sacar fotos, y de inmediato se puso con Javier al frente de su mesa de trabajo. Fue un gran momento! El articulo de arte que hizo que se me calleran la mandibula, en todo casa, fue la puerta que estaba a la entrada del santuario. El pinto la puerta siguiendo la escritura de Juan 1 versiculo 7 en la biblia y era para perder el aliento. Me enamora de la puerta de inmediato, y saque un par de fotos. |
| About a year ago, Javier’s grandparents moved from that house to an apartment, which meant the door was at the mercy of whoever moved into the house. I offhandedly mentioned that it was too bad that we couldn’t keep the door and how much I would love to have it here as art and family history, but I never ever imagined that it would be possible. Javi spoke with his parents, though, and suddenly everything was set in motion to bring the door to Santiago. They removed the door and replaced it with a new one, then drove the door up to Santiago. It stayed at his parents house for a few months, and after much difficulty they were finally able to figure out how to bring it as luggage labeled as art. Before they could ship it as art, though, they had to have it certified at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago. So they took the door to the museum and they inspected it and certified it but it had to have a name for the certificate. So Pancho and Meri named it “Apocalipsis” and that was that. They packed it up with layer after layer of bubble wrap and cardboard, and shipped it along with their luggage! | Mas o menos un ano atras, los abuelos de Javier se mudaron de su casa a un departamento, lo que significaba que la puerta quedaba en manos de los proximos duenos de casa. Yo mencione que era una pena no poder quedarnos con la puerta y lo tanto que me gustaria tenerla con nosotros como arte de la historia familiar, pero nunca nunca me imagine que seria posible. Javi hablo con sus papas y de repente todo estaba puesto en movimiento para llevar la puerta a Santiago. Se quedo en casa de sus papas por unos meses, y despues de mucha dificultad pudieron encontrar la manera de enviar la puerta en el equipaje marcada como arte. Antes de poder enviarla, tuvieron que certificarlo en el museo de Bellas Artes en Santiago. Asi que llevaron la puerta al museo y ellos la inspeccionaron y certificaron, pero habia que ponerle un nombre para certificarla. Asi que Pancho y Meri la llamaron “Apocalipsis”. La empaquetaron con varias capas de plastico con burbujas y carton, y la mandaron en el equipaje! |
| I cannot BELIEVE we actually have this door in our house. To add to the complication, we can’t tell Javier’s grandfather! He was adamant about leaving the door where it was, but his parents knew that it would either be destroyed or removed and they didn’t want to lose it. His grandfather used to paint when he was younger and apparently his art teacher brought all of his paintings back to her house to decorate, so we don’t have any paintings from his grandfather left. I can’t tell you how happy we are to have this amazing piece of family history on our wall!! That’s the final part of the story – Javier mounted the door (which is too small to actually serve as a door here) on our living room wall where everyone can see it. I feel like our house is complete! | No puedo creer que la puerta este en la casa! Para agregar complicacion, no le podemos decir al abuelo de Javier! El estaba firme en dejar la puerta donde estaba, pero sus papas sabian que seria destrozada y removida y no la querian perder. El abuelo de Javier solia pintar cuando joven y aparentemente su profesora de arte se quedo con todas las pinturas en su casa para decorarla, asi que no tenemos mas pinturas de su abuelo. No te puedo decir lo feliz que estoy con la puerta en nuestra casa, un pedazo de historia familiar en nuestra muralla!! Esa es la ultima parte de la historia – Javier colgo la puerta (la que es muy pequena para ajustarse en una puerta de nuestra casa) en nuestro living / comedor para que todos puedan verla. Siento que nuestra casa esta finalmente completa! |
Los Rodriguez Life 
9 responses to “A door named Apocalipsis”
Amazing! Simply amazing! What a gift.
Oh Leslie, WHAT a wonderful story. The door does look just perfect on your wall and complements your new paint colors perfectly. My favorite photo is the one of Javi and his grandfather next to the workbench. Speaks a thousand words! Thank you for sharing this precious family story.
Thank you for reading it Janet! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It’s been a very special week for us with Javier’s family here and now with this new piece of family history gracing our home! 🙂
I want to come see it in person! Sometime in January, perhaps? Hugs.
Definitely! Just let us know!
So cool, Leslie and Javi!
Awesome story! The door looks great and what a great story “behind” it.
Que alegria mas grande recordar toda esta historia y pensar que nuestro Padre Francisco Rodriguez nos enseno a amar a Dios por sobre todas las cosas y con sus pinturas, sus flores nos demuestra su espiritualidad, su sencillez, humildad y su gran amor a Dios.
(by the way, the above comment was from Javier’s dad, while he was using Javier’s computer)