An Interlude of the Day

"The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them..." -Michel de Montaigne
I heard a similar “quote” a few times in a slightly different version. I can’t recall its exact wording, the point is we should judge the value of our life by its quality, not by its length. . Abraham Lincoln also said, “ And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” It has been my long wish - live a diverse and fulfilling life in stead of a tedious unpleasant one. That’s why I answered Sherry and Pamela’s call for a lunch rendezvous today. I was tempted to enjoy a potentially crazy chitchat and scrumptious food though I had to beg another teacher to swap class with me to make it happen. Pamela will soon leave for ShangHai after a short stay in Taipei. The Monthly gathering on 4/12 is still not good enough to quench our thirst for more gossiping.

The students were especially noisy today and rushed out my classroom leaving all the desks and chairs scattered in a mess. It took me a while to tidy the room. I rushed out for the lunch rendezvous at "Milano" , an Italy restaurant near Pamela’s office. Originally I planned to take MRT worrying about the parking problem. Now I had no way but drive. To my surprise I got a parking place easily. What a luck!

I stepped in at 12:00 noon. There they were, Sherry, Pamela Sophia and Cecilia. Lydia said she would catch up at 12:30 pm. I wasted no time in ordering, and fetching myself a good dish of salad after exchanging exciting greetings. Whatever Pamela introduced tasted all finger-licking to me. When I was about to finish my lunch, Lydia walked in and brought up new topics. She still had enough time to enjoy the great food.

After covering various topics, Sherry placed the book “美麗的小故事Pretty Little Mistakes: A Do-Over Novel" by Heather McElhatton, before me and forced me to go over it following its instructions to see my fictional fate. She and her ideas, I was puzzled. Was it a kind of mind reading or personality analyzing? Well, since all the other girls at the table did it, I followed suit without questioning. Actually I was curious and interested in finding out what it was about, too. Two would live over 90 years before they go to see God, the book told them. Me? I got burnt to death at my early thirties after suffering from twelve years of miserable life. Fortunately it was just a game. Before I started to do it, I commented, “Ninety years? Who wants to live that long?” Yet I didn’t expect I would die so young. Actually I was trying to make choices that I wouldn’t do in my real life. Is it why I got the unthinkable conclusion from the book?

Sherry's bold topics aroused quite a controversial arguments which somehow drove us to touch on personality issue. Sophia surprised us by analyzing the essence of color in each one of us with her peculiar observation. She did like a Psychic or psychologist. Where and how did she learn that? I had to admit it was very interesting and educational indeed!

Ah, I forgot to mention the “Goldies’ traveling diary”. Don’t know how Sherry got this idea. I bet her voracious reading habit certainly certainly had something to do with it. The traveling diary, an artiscally made diary, was passed on to my hand. It’s Sophia’s another talent. Though it means that I have to rack my brain again to squeeze some words to write in the diary, just by looking at the bright floral pattern is a very mind-soothing thing.

What a perfect lunch rendezvous! The place was cozy and exotic, the food was yummy, the price was unbelievably attractive and we were all in an exceptionally cheerful mood. The only annoying thing was that time always flies. Pamela and I had to get back to work, and must call it a day. Whatever we left uncovered today will definitely be picked up on April 11th.

Trini
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