And Then There's Maud

This is not about the TV Show, but a quirky piece of office equipment that our company had years ago.

Maud was a copy machine that could produce an astronomical number of copies per minute. Unfortunately, Maud would go off the rails occasionally and produce skewed versions of the original or take a notion to break down just when you were needing her the most.

I hadn't thought about Maud for a very long time. But for the past few weeks, I have been going through old records at work and I recognized Maud's handiwork on some old documents and fliers.

The thing is that Maud seemed to have a sixth sense when the conversation would roll around about replacing her with a more modern and reliable copier. We would get nice crisp copies for a while and then she would slide back into her old ways.

I think that in her day prior to our ownership; Maud was considered a top-of-line machine. We had purchased her second-hand and so, we only caught a brief glimpse of her glory days.

I may have written about Maud in a prior blog or mentioned her in passing. She was the queen of the office in the early nineties. The owner of the company babied her along and remained optimistic about her abilities long past her salvage date.

But there came a day when Glen looked her over and simply said, "I don't think that I can fix Maud anymore, her problems have gone way past my abilities and patience."

It was the end of an era. Maud has served out her final days with our company. We have had many copiers since Maud but none of them could ever match her speed.

I have been going over old pictures and memories of the past 24 years of my experience with the company that I work for. Many of you will remember that I wrote a blog about my boss, Glen. He really had the gift of making lemonade out of the lemons that life threw at him.

His great love was the automotive end of the business. But surprisingly, other aspects of manufacturing were just as successful.

There are more bumps in the road ahead for me and the work that I do and it is a little scary at times. I question at times whether I can weather a few more professional and personal storms in my life.

However, I have been blessed beyond measure these 24 years. Not many people can say that they have worked for one company as long as I have. And it is my considered hope that I will be allowed to continue for another ten years or as the new era of Aeroform begins this fall.

I have always felt that God led me to this job and that when my work was done, He would provide another place for me. I could hardly imagine that I would still be here after 20+ years! It is like a marriage really. I have experienced times of excitement and joy and discovery. And at other times dark and cloudy days when you wonder why you work so hard?

Our personal legacies are not always the things that are written in history books or made into movies. I would hope that my legacy will be simply this, "Her heart was generous and loving. She saw the value of each individual that she came into contact with. And she tried always to give the very best of herself to God and to others."