(Bloom, Libra, and Lark are sitting in a small circle. Assorted fabrics and notions are piled up in the middle.)

Mom (Present Me): Hey girls! What are you up to?

Bloom (High School Me): Quilting!

Libra (College Me): We’re making a quilt to celebrate reaching double digits on this project.

Lark (20s Me): I mean, it’s not much of a milestone. It hardly seems worth celebrating at all.

Libra: Oh hush! It’s a new experience for us. Besides, it’s fun.

Bloom: Yeah, it’s fun! It’s worth doing just for that.

Mom (smiling): It’s good to see you all getting along. Mind if I join you?

Libra: Please!

(Libra scoots over, making space between herself and Lark. I take my place in the circle, lifting the skirt of my dress as I sit cross legged between them. I watch as my skirt settles over my legs in a satisfying network of folds… and catch Lark peering at it out of the corner of her eye. Lark tears her eyes away as I smooth it out.)

Mom: So the theme is our ten scene anniversary?

Libra: Yup! It’s a small milestone, so we’re making a small quilt. Each of us is making a single block, and with the four of us we can sew them into a square.

Bloom: See? Mine is a flower! It’s to commemorate the nickname you gave me, Mom.

(Bloom holds up a square of fabric with a six-petaled flower stitched onto the surface. Bloom chose a fuzzy yellow fabric for the center of the flower, while the petals alternate red and purple around it.)

Libra: Oh pretty! I did something similar – I drew a book onto my square. You know, for my nickname.

(Libra holds up a square of fabric with a pattern like a gently crumpled piece of paper. An open book with an ornate “L” on the facing page has been sketched onto it with a sharpie.)

Bloom: I like it! What about you, Lark?

Lark: Oh… I made a square for my nickname too… It’s not that good though.

Bloom: Aw, come on! Let’s see it! Please?

(Bloom flashes Lark her best puppy eyes. It’s adorable, but not particularly convincing.)

Lark (confused): Are you trying to puppy eyes me?

Bloom (pleading): Yes?

Lark: It’s not… Oh, whatever. Here.

(Lark holds up her block. Unlike the others, Lark’s was stitched together from five different fabrics; four right triangles around a central diamond. The fabric used for the diamond prominently features a songbird which serves as the focal point for the block.)

Libra: Wow! Lark, that’s gorgeous!

Lark: No it isn’t. I didn’t do any drawing or applique.

Libra: But you stitched pieces of fabric together! You did actual quilting!

Bloom: And your stitches look great! They’re much neater and more even than mine.

Libra: Plus your fabric choices contrast really well with each other, and you actually found a fabric to match your theme. It’s really good!

(Lark turns her block around to look at it, seemingly for the first time. As she regards it, there’s a glimmer in her eye – a spark of sorts – of recognition and belonging and joy. In the next moment the spark dims and her eyes return to their usual dullness as she sets her block down.)

Lark: Thanks, I guess. Can we be done?

Mom: It looks like it. Tell you what girls – I’ll finish my block and then sew them all together to make the quilt. Sound good?

Bloom: Sounds great, Mom! Thanks!