The Quilt

The antique show was being held at the fairgrounds in Centerville, Michigan one summer where Sheree and I stopped by to browse through the many booths on display.  I had been to another antique show a few years earlier in this same location where I found more of the dishes that I collect.  Someone might have thought I knew more about antique china than I actually did when I asked the dealer if this was Bavaria by Schumann Arzberg, Germany and it just so happened to be.  I bought the dishes and brought them home and added them to the rest of my set.  It was exciting to see old funiture, books, dishes, pots and pans, bright colored table clothes that used to be common when we were growing up, and the many quilts...  I love historical homes and even history now that I'm out of school.  Antiques are a new fascination to me.  The things they call "antiques" are the very things that I grew up with and the familiarity of them arouse pleasant memories.

Sheree and I were going from booth to booth admiring this and that along the way when I noticed Sheree had lingered behind me as I was talking with a lady that had the most brilliant colored old quilt edged with red piping around the scalloped edges.  It was beautiful and in mint condition for it's age.  She spread it across the table so I could see that it didn't have a flaw on it.  I asked her the price and then told her I would love to have it but regretfully I can not afford such a luxury.   I walked on turning to notice Sheree still a few booths behind me before stepping through the doors of the indoor displays where antique furniture filled the building.  I had been in there for awhile and wondered why Sheree hadn't entered yet?  I went outside to find her but she wasn't anywhere in sight.  Going back through the building and out the other side, I started to head out toward our parked car when I finally met Sheree coming toward me.  She gave some excuse as to where she had been and I didn't think anything more about it until I got home...

Without saying a word to me, Sheree went about her business as though nothing was afoot.  Going into my room, there, laying on the bed, was the very same quilt I had admired at the antique show with the simplest of notes inscribed:  To: Linda, Love, Sheree.    The gift held immense value but the giver immeasurable value!