I worked with Marge for years before she retired from Standard Publishing. We traveled together on Ideashops, and I worked with her when she was head of the Christian Ministries Department. I dearly love her, and it's been too long since I've seen her.
I had thought I would take her picture; maybe we'd pose together. But she was resting in a hospital bed, connected to oxygen and accompanied by a companion/nurse. We weren't going to take a picture.
But we had a nice visit. "I'm getting weaker and weaker," she said, but her mind is sharp. She smiled and laughed with me, and we reminisced a bit about travels we shared.
"They talked with me about where I wanted to go," she told me, "and I said, 'Wherever it's the cheapest.' But they said, 'We'll go where it's the nicest.'"
We talked about how glad we are to have kids who love the Lord and love their spouses and are involved in good things. (Marge's three kids are remarkable, dynamic Christians. It's quite something to see three kids from the same family who are each so special. Her son Dale worked with us at Standard for 20+ years before the latest layoff there. He's the newest staff member at our church, Trevor DeVage's first new hire.)
"You just have to keep pressing on," she told me. I have a feeling that's a philosophy that has carried her through her 88 years and will until she's too weak to express it any longer.
I'm glad I got to see her. I'm sorry I haven't seen her more in the last few years.
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