Coffee With Maddie




It wasn’t until after I turned 40 that I even started thinking about my age at all. Up until then I’d think twice when someone asked me how old I was - not anymore. I’m 44 years, 5 months and 18 days old. Don’t get me wrong, I’m by no means obsessed with this, but . . . I’m actually starting to feel older. Bummer! It probably didn’t help that the week after I turned 40 I needed bifocals and that lately my memory leaves a great deal to be desired! When I was with my friend Jane a few nights ago I told her it bothered me I couldn’t remember something my husband was talking about that happened in our 20’s. She just laughed at me and said, “Get used to it honey! Believe me, it only gets worse!” Thanks Jane (Jane is 10 years older than me). Some of my friends tell me, “Don’t worry Maddie, its just your hormones.” I love it that I can blame so many things on my hormones these days!!

This past week I received an invitation to a 50th birthday party for another friend of mine. The invitation said this, “Because you have so generously blessed me with your friendship, please be my guest to help me begin the next 50 years of my life.” The next 50 years of her life! What an optimistic, wonderful way to look at turning 50. On the back side of her invitation she included excerpts from the poem, Warning - When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple (see www.wheniamanoldwoman.com). After reading the invitation and the poem, I was reminded of something I’ve really known all along - aging isn’t as much about years as it is about attitude.

There are some people I know who are close to my age that are getting old very early in their lives. And then I know some older people who put me to shame with the exercise and activities they participate in. Uh-oh - I feel some changes coming on! First things first, I think it’s time for an attitude change. Maybe it’s time I stop worrying (complaining) about not having as much energy as I used to have and not looking like I did when I was 25. Maybe it’s time to do something proactive about it. I just read something this morning that made me think even more about this. In Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, he said “What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.” I find myself thinking more and more about how I am living this gift I’ve been given called life. I’m thinking I have a lot to look forward to yet and a lot more to do.

During the holidays last year I read The Street Lawyer by John Grisham (I highly recommend it - particularly this time of year). I made a resolution that I would do something to help others less fortunate than myself during the year. I’ve done a few things, but not to the extent I wanted to. It was a novel with a lessen to be learned. Eleven months later I’m still trying to get that lesson into my brain . . . life is not just about Maddie!! Life is about loving and helping other people.

Someone who devoted her life to doing that was Mother Theresa. She said, “Holy living consists in doing God’s work with a smile.” She humbly smiled and did God’s work until she died at the age of 87. If I should live that long, I’ve got 43 years left. I think it’s time to move forward.

I’ve got a lot of living to do! How about you?

Until next week . . . God bless you and yours! -Maddie

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Coffee With Maddie: Archive;
Blessings
Magazine Junkie!
Maddie Goes to College
Changes
Let the season begin!

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About the Author;
Maddie is a dear friend from the Midwest who will touch your heart with her gentle stories of home of family. You can just picture yourself at the kitchen table any early morning with Maddie, a fresh cup of coffee, maybe the smell of bacon in the air, and a log on the fire to take out the chill.

Talk to Maddie at ...
Maddie@boomerjournals.com