Celebration!

This was the week for thank-you lunches with the friends who helped me through my two-year project on welcoming in ancient Rome. My friend Linda received many a despairing phone call, but was always kind and supportive, even though she herself spent the past year recovering from being hit by a car. She's walking, reading and knitting again, so it was time for us both to celebrate over lunch at the Banana Leaf restaurant.

My friends Andre and Georgeann, who kept my spirits and humour alive during my lengthy academic effort, came for a celebration lunch at the Salade de Fruits restaurant on Friday. Ever since we met at the beginning of the SFU course I just completed, we have been getting together weekly to discuss books. They indulged me with Rome-themed readings for as long as possible, but now we're on to the complete works of  Jane Austen -- which in itself is worth a celebration.

Champagne, Georgeann declared, was a necessity. When Carol finally finished her two years' battle with Rome, we would all drink champagne. And so on Friday, exactly seven days after my project on welcoming and immigration in ancient Rome was accepted by my professors at Simon Fraser University, Georgeann supplied a bottle of Pol Roger for our celebration lunch.

Many things fell by the wayside during my project on Rome. My weekly house-cleanings withered away, and grit ground underfoot on the kitchen floor. The windows didn’t get cleaned this year. My garden twice awakened, bloomed and faded with no help from compost, fertilizer or me.

But my friends stayed steadfast. Georgeann and Andre, the SFU friends I meet with weekly to discuss books, did as many Rome-related readings as they could, and excused me from some of their other studies.  My friend Linda, with whom I had long shared more modern books, graciously accepted that I could no longer keep up. My friend Ros kept in regular touch by Skype from Mexico, but knew when the conversation turned to books that we’d be reading very different things. Through it all, they sympathized and supported, joked and jollied, and assured me at the low points that they wouldn’t think less of me for bowing out.

Now that it’s over, I know it’s not the dirty floors and windows or the unkempt garden that matter. It’s the friendships that stayed true through a trial like this. Time to celebrate!

There was a corkage fee but the friendly staff at the Salade de Fruits restaurant -- a favourite of Ros and mine when she is in town -- were gracious about supplying champagne flutes and keeping our glasses filled with the champagne Georgeann brought. Their attitude and the wine added a sparkle to the meal. 

Well, I don't usually drink anything alcoholic, but once-in-a-lifetime occasions have to be honoured.

We shared a mousse and slice of lemon tart for dessert. As this photo shows, it was very much worth celebrating.