Sometimes we get so caught up in work and the myriad of things to do in our lives we forget to set aside time for friends. A colleague and two former colleagues of mine have made a point of meeting a few times a year for lunch as friends. Today we met in Aux Délices, a small restaurant located in a building over 250 years old.
I first discovered this building when I had gone to Pointe Claire Village and, being early for an appointment, wandered around. My eye caught sight of a quilt in the window all blues, purples and turquoise - truly magnificent. I had to go in and look more closely. The building housed a quilting store with fabrics on the main level and room for classes upstairs. I enrolled in a quilting class and learned to painstakingly create templates, trace them onto fabric, cut and then piece the shapes together to create a sampler of quilt squares. I naively planned for a queen-sized quilt for my daughter. Five years later I still have the 15 squares I made, waiting to be pieced together. I keep planning to get back to it, but....
I used to say that about friends. When I have time we'll get together. But as I get older, I realize you have to carve out time for what is important. And there is nothing more important than people. My friends and I have already planned our next meeting, this time a supper. Together we piece together the fabrics of our lives and sew our lives together in a friendship quilt.
