On Thursday night, Demis, Anna, Jenn and I went to dinner at CafŽ la Vigna in Leichhardt. It was Jenn's birthday, and that - along with the excuse that she was soon leaving Australia to return to her home in the States - was more than enough reason to dine out.

When Jenn expressed a desire for Italian as her birthday meal, I figured where better than Leichhardt...the Italy of Australia...and seeing I was going to the effort of taking her to Leichhardt, I figured I may as well go the entire Italian way and take her to the Italian Forum (which always reminds me of the plazas in Verona...with all the restaurants set along the edges... fountain in the middle... waiters standing outside beckoning you in... outdoor tables and delicious smells... mmm).

Food ordered (their menu is very tempting - a wide range of great platters, seafood, meats and pastas that come in good portions and are well priced) we were left to drink our wine (they are BYO but being lazy we ordered off their wine menu) and chat. Four is a cosy dining number but I found there was an invisible guest that subtly took up most of the space.

Time.

Time was playing a big part in my fellow diners' lives.

I knew Jenn for 5 days in Paris back in 2002. But because travelling Time weighs so much (I guess we value things more when we are seeing it pass by us so quickly...or maybe we just have clearer receptors when pulled away from our own comfortable and secure environment), those 5 days made her one of my best friends and 3 years later she came to Australia to live/work for 6 months.

But Time played on her heart and made her aware of how much she both missed and loved her boyfriend who was still back in the States (she had left to give him Time to finish his studies and give herself Time to figure out what she wanted). So although she had a sponsorship to stay in Australia, she decided it was Time to return home (though really I don't know why it's soooo important to be with your loved one when you could hang out with me all the Time...?).

As Jenn fiddled with her Seafood Risotto (the food by this stage had arrived...hers looked fantastic even though she covered it with Parmesan cheese - meaning I couldn't try some - and didn't eat most of it being the light eater that she is and given the fact she was more interested in my fries), I sat thinking how hard it must be to know when Time is calling you to action...and how strong she was to show such commitment in following her actions through.

Across from Jenn sat Anna. I met Anna 6 years ago when the Timing had been just right. On second thoughts, it was the fact that the Timing was so wrong that it became so right. My now ex-boyfriend had arranged a night for us to have dinner (she had been a friend of his), of course, when he planned this night he forgot to take into account that he was going through a drinking phase and would consequently not turn up...nor give any clue to his whereabouts. So I turned up to Anna's house alone, upset and barely knowing her...and in that short Time, we became close friends for life (and I became single).

Some years later Anna decided to travel and during that Time met Gabe. Though they didn't spent a long Time together it became very clear very soon that they were in love (I think Time even managed to surprise her with this as I know she was not expecting to love someone so quickly). Anna returned to Australia in September of 2004 (3 years after she left...a long Time for someone to be away...) and now glares at Time with impatient hatred as she waits for Gabe to join her in May.

As Anna slowly savoured her lasagne (she had not eaten pasta for quite some Time in order to fit into her bridesmaid's dress for Melinda's wedding...though even if there had been no wedding I'm sure she still would have eaten it very slowly as I don't think I've ever seen her finish a meal within 20 minutes of everyone else finishing) I thought, that even though it is painful to wait for someone you love...it made her so much more beautiful that she was.

And me?

Well as I ate my Trio di Mare (mmm...very satisfying extremely large plate of prawns, calamari, baby octopus, fries and salad...) I realised that I owed a lot to Time (even my being with Demis had been subject to Time's influence). It had given me the relationships I have now and had landed us all on that table on that particular night.

And as I watched Demis struggle with the cream in his banana split (he - as usual - had not had much luck that night starting with food envy from his bland Mexican chicken, and ending with the waiter bringing out his dessert, which had suffered a cream explosion in the kitchen resulting in an obscene amount of cream) ...I came to my final conclusion.

With any luck I will live a long Time and will grow old. As those years come, I will probably end up hating Time as it wears out my mind and body and takes away the people I know and love...but right now I can't help think how incredible its power is and how important it is in letting a person reach their own extremes.

And as I watched the last bit of cream end up on Demis' face...all any of us could do was laugh and cherish that moment in Time.