Women

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It’s been almost a year since my dear friend entered into her eternal rest. I miss her and I have some guilt haunting me about her last few years. Guilt because I didn’t spend as much time with her, as I should have or wanted too. My excuse was that I was too busy and I had many things to do. I’ve learned now that we should never be to busy to gain wisdom from the aged or spend time with a treasured friend.
I met Marjorie over twenty years ago. She wasn’t always the easiest person to get along with but she always welcomed you into her home and took the time to listen to you. As I grow older, I realize how little time is spent listening to each other. Marjorie was a listener she worked at it and practiced it. Her interest in you was genuine.
Her life wasn’t one of constant comfort and joy. It was however, one of faithfulness and prayer and dedication.
Marjorie had been a missionary, a bank teller, a teacher, a prolific gardener, and a gourmet cook and a published author. She had lived in Africa, Portugal, England and Canada just to name a few places.
I had a lot of respect for her and I knew that she was a woman of wisdom. A verse in the Old Testament tells about a barren woman who has many children. Now that doesn’t really make a lot of sense to everyone but it did to me.
Marjorie had many children although she only birthed one son. Many young women and sometimes young men would seek her advice and wisdom and I was one of them.
I asked her one day how to become a writer and her answer was simple.
She said, “Just write, it is as simple as that, just write.”
When Marjorie was a young woman, she lived in Portugal. She had a deep love for that country and often said that if she didn’t have her son to raise she would have lived there.
When she was in her seventies, she was staying in Portugal for several months. She was writing a book about a woman in Lisbon. She asked me to go to Portugal, meet her there, and come back to Canada with her.
She wanted to share her love of the Portuguese people and the country with me. I wanted to go but I felt that it would be impossible.
After all, I didn’t have the ready cash and I needed to arrange for someone to help with my children. I was the one that worried about those things. Marjorie on the other hand was not. She prayed and she had faith to move a mountain. This trip to her was no big feat. It had to do with trusting God for the details. Something she did with each area of her life and this would be no different.
Things did work out and I went to Portugal with her. I have many memories of that trip, beautiful memories lingering in the pockets of my mind. We had a wonderful time.
Nothing seemed to faze her. In her late eighties, she rode on a boogie board behind a motor boat. She lived alone in her little duplex and still had her coffee group in for a Christmas lunch when she was ninety years old.
After her ninetieth birthday, she began to go down hill. Although she had, her last book published when she was in her eighties.
You are never too old to live. Old age is not a disease or a diagnosis your doctor gives you. Sometimes as you age you become a more valuable citizen and you can give so much more to your community. You have more time to do so when you reach societies retirement age.
My friend Marjorie never retired. She embraced life and looked forward to each day. Her wisdom surmounted her age.
Sometimes her words seemed to be harsh but she always had a reason for her answers. She would share stories about her life with me and I would treasure them in my heart. I still do today.
In the last year of her life, she was often tired but I think it was because she lived such a full life. Even though her life was not one without sorrow or pain, she made it a life worth living. She knew that you could not live a life without regrets and she didn’t have regrets about the things she couldn’t change. She made a difference in this world through the books she wrote and the lives she touched.
She made each moment of every day count. Her moments were little blessings given to her to pass on to others. She left a mark on my life and in my heart and I am a richer person for knowing her.

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