Ode to SuzyQ

Once you were my friend...

Sue and I met at l'École St-Paul.  I remember when you first came to my school in the 7^th grade.  Although we were in the same class, we did not hang out together at first.  I already had my “gang” of friends…the ones I had grown up with since Kindergarten. 

I have fleeting memories of grade 7 and of grade 8 and of you in class; but I do remember the pretty girl...I thought was so “cool”.  Our class trip in 8th grade was a visit to Granby zoo...I don’t remember seeing the animals but I recall we had a lot of fun with the “gang”.

 
We said farewell to our beloved École St-Paul and started high school full of hopes and dreams….hopes of meeting new boys and dreams of 4 years of fun.  Our grades would be proof that we indeed did have a lot of fun :)

In 9^th grade, you and I had a few classes together, at least, I think we did…I seem to have a lot of memory lapses…I wonder why :) One thing's for sure, we at least had one class together because this is how we started “hanging out" together.  I invited you over to do homework and of course, we did more chatting then homework.  Then one Friday night we went to the movies to see Star Wars.  The rest is history as they say. 

then you became my best friend...

After that, we were inseparable.  We spent every moment together and went everywhere together.  We loved the same things (sometimes the same boys :) we had the same dreams, we were true best friends.  During the summer, you were always at my house….sometimes for two weeks on end.  We went to concerts (Supertramp, April Wine, Styx, Black Sabbath, Village People, Donna Summer, etc), you slept over every weekend… that is, when we actually slept…most nights we would talk until the sun would come up and eat spaghetti from Lorenzo's in the middle of the night.  We always had something or someone to talk about.  You became my confident, my partner in crime, you shared my secrets, my tears and my laughter.  You were the most important person in my life…my sister from another mother. 

 

We took the same classes, read together (Amityville Horror, etc.), went shopping at St-Laurent and went to the movies (Grease, Saturday Night Fever, etc).   Friends who know us would surely say that back then, if someone was looking for me, they simply needed to find you and vice versa.  We were not very hard to find….always sitting in front of École St-Paul waiting for the “gang” to come or be invited to the next party or get together.  We smoked, and drank, but most of all we laughed; laughed until we cried sometimes. We went out to bars (Barrymores, Arnolds, Molly McGuires, Globe, Le Papillon, etc) with borrowed IDs, we danced until the last minute when we had to leave to take the last bus home or walked, when it was too late or during the bus strike. 

What fun we had in my basement with our friends when my dad and sister were at my aunt's cottage.  We raided the freezer that my dad kept well stocked, we listened to music and always had the house top shape for Sunday afternoon when he would return.  You know me....the good girl :)

We spent 4 incredible years, being carefree and having the most wonderful time together, we even went to Algonquin College together…even if only for 2 weeks before we quit (in time to get our money back and attend a Doucette concert at the college).  I remember it like it was yesterday.   

We promised each other that when we would be old, we would live in the same retirement home...that story remains to be written. 

and you will remain my best friend forever

The years have been busy ones for both of us with work, family and obligations.  Although we do not get to spend as much time together as I would like (living so far from each other), you’re still part of my life and there is rarely a day or week when I do not think of you fondly. 

 

You hold that special place in my heart.  I always know that you are only a phone call away if I need to talk, rant or simply need a pick-me-up.   I hope that you also know that I am always there for you too.  When we do go out for dinner or get to spend the day together on those rare occasions, we can pick up where we left off just like we did all those years ago.

"Friendship is a single soul dwellin in two bodies" Aristotle

My dearest Sue, on the occasion of your 50^th birthday (is it even possible that we are turning 50 already), I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you, my true best friend, how much I appreciate our friendship and how much I love you. 
 
And since they say that 50 is the new 40 (it must have been a 50 year old women who said this :), there is really nothing to worry about, were just getting that much closer to retirement. 

Rest assured, I am already planning our 80^th birthday and it promises to be a doozy of a party, after all, I plan to invite the “old” gang…no pun intended!  

Your BFF, Lison le lion
xx

 

 

These are a few of my favourite things

I've always had an attraction for antiques, vintage finds and pieces that have belonged to someone else.

Most of these items have little monetary value, but to me, they are priceless. It’s as if somehow, by having belonged to someone I love, they take on another form. I love to scatter items from my past and my childhood throughout my home.

I've always been a collector of things and souvenirs. When I got my first job at 17, working for the Ottawa General Hospital, I decided to redo my bedroom and visited a few antique stores and the Stittsville fleamarket where I bought a small antique table (which I still have) and a mirror for my dresser. I remember being excited that these items were so old and had a history.

As a child and after I first got married, I loved going to my grandmother Bigras who lived with my uncles, Edgar and Roger, in the country. They were so welcoming and always seemed so happy to see us, and as a bonus, they had things from the past in their home.  I would ask questions about each item and I remember how they looked upon these items as old things. They gifted me with a door stopper, well, they used it as a door stopper, but it is in fact a small flat iron painted silver. When I look at it, I can picture my grandmother ironing the clothes of her 8 boys and ironing everything from bed sheets to underwear because that's what they did back then. This is no ordinary iron, she had to warm it on the wood stove before using it, because she used it before there was even electricity. Just imagine living without electricity...I would not be writing this blog post on my iPad tablet and sharing this with you on the Internet through Facebook, that's for certain :)

I also have a tablecloth and pillow cases my grandmother embroidered for me which I cherish. They are beautiful just as she was...I miss her very much. I also loved visiting her sister, my aunt Gracia, who lived close by in an old house that she grew up in. I will leave this for another post as my wonderful aunt deserves a blog post of her own to be written in the near future.

Every time I would visit my grandmother Viau (my mom's mother), I would go and get the doll she kept on her bed and play with it. One day, she gave it to me...the doll's smiling face reminds me of her and how she loved to laugh. I have broaches and cuff links I've collected from loved ones (see photo above)...nothing expensive, but beautiful treasures none the less.

I have dishes and candy bowls that gather dust in my cupboards and I only use once in a while. I leave out the ones that are most precious to me so I can see them every day.  Each item is special to me and each holds a memory to be treasured.

Looking at items from my childhood, brings back memories and souvenirs of happy times. A chair that's in my living room brings back souvenirs of my dad and I laughing until we cried trying to get it in the car! A bookcases in my living, that I refer to as "la bibliothèque" reminds me that my mom loved books (some of her books are still in it) and that my dad used to leave loose change on it for me and my sister when we were young.

I love the paint-by-number paintings my parents painted together and the wool blanket my mom crocheted that now decorates our cottage. I love to look at my mom's trophy from her school days and at an old bottle that use to be in our basement in my dad's bar. What fun I had with my friends around that bar when I was a teenager. I'll leave that for another post also or maybe not :)


Over the years, I've accumulated souvenirs of my childhood, my school years, family members that are no longer with us and of my children (cards, drawing, etc.). Some would say that I keep things that are mundane or trivial, and that I'm somewhat of a packrat, but they are part of me, they follow me from home to home and from year to year.


They are part of my life baggage and I love them and the souvenirs that are attached to them. Just like my dad's old family portraits and 8mm movies, my own photos are souvenirs in the making.

Whenever my niece and nephew visit, I take lots of photos and my daughters often tell me to stop already, but my nephew once said that it was ok for me to take all these pictures as I'm making memories for them for the future. Children are so wise.

I don't know that these souvenirs will be important to someone else once I'm gone.

I can picture myself, a little old lady sitting in a retirement home with all my souvenirs and my laptop on my knees looking at my photos.

Until then, I will continue gathering souvenirs, visiting flea markets and taking photos.  

And who knows, perhaps someday, my children or grand-children will also share my love of things old.

If not, maybe someone, somewhere will look at my things in a flea market or garage sale and imagine the lady who lovingly collected them and get a glimpse of who I was.