In the mid-1980s I traveled to Portland, Maine, time and again, to visit two older women, Aggie Bennett and Louise Casey. They taught me just about everything important I've ever learned about what it means to live a purposeful life, one built around work that matters, especially in the years that used to be occupied by traditional retirement.
Aggie and Louise were unlikely paragons of purpose. They were physically unimposing — neither measured even five feet tall. They had little education, and had never lived outside of Maine. For most of their lives, neither aspired to find work that did much more than pay the bills and cover the rent. Aggie worked as a waitress in a local diner, and Louise was employed at a paper mill. However, when they hit 60 things changed, and dramatically. Rather than retire — they feared they would be bored — Aggie and Louise each joined something called Foster Grandparents, which paid a modest stipend in return for spending 20 hours a week on the pediatrics ward of Maine Medical Center, the city's major hospital. It is where they met each other, and where I met them.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Don't Leave a Legacy; Live One - Marc Freedman - Harvard Business Review
