People are more important than hobbies

I haven't QUITE finished the reversible/selvage quilt -- I thought it would be done today but I'm pooping out with one border and the binding to do. That's two hours and I've made an "executive decision" -- since I'm the CEO of my time -- that I will have a long sweetly scented bath and read the rest of the evening instead of spending those couple of hours finishing the quilt.

As the title suggests, I got side tracked, which is just fine. A friend was here the last couple days. I truly believe people come before hobbies. Actually I hate the word "hobby" but I've finally admitted that quilting IS a hobby. It is a delightful, even obsessive aside in my life. People and writing come first -- although I use the quilting to procrastinate about a major writing project that is to me so major it's terrifying because it's an important story I may not have the skill to tell. But I'll never know if I don't do my best and suceed or fail.

But I digress. As said repeatedly, everything in quilting takes longer than you think. I had a nice clear three hours this afternoon and thought that would be enough time to finish the quilt. No. I worked steadily and can foresee two more hours. I'm tired because I've worked the last two days AND stayed up a couple hours later than usual chattering my head off -- and listening too, because my visitor is a smart, very thoughtful woman and we see each other seldom. And I think I'm becoming more garrulous as I get older -- well, what the hell? I've got more life under my belt and more information and a whole truck load of opinions and it's great to talk with someone with the same credentials and her own specialties because of course, we've lived different lives in different places. Actually people have always come before most other things; maybe it's lucky there are not so very many people in my life. I AM able to carve out self-time as well. As of now, that's the nice hot bath.