Maggie Wilde:
CLASS OF 1971
Lakeland High SchoolClass of 1971
Shrub oak, NY
Maggie's Story
I've gotten asked a lot if I changed my name to Wilde because of my lifestyle but I actually named myself after Oscar Wilde, my favourite playwright. It also meant my e-mail address is wildemaggie atAOLdotcom which gets a few comments.
My life since Lakeland High School
After college in Los Angeles at USC and graduate school at New York University, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1984. Shortly after the move, I quit my job at IBM and began to get much more involved with volunteer and political work instead. I thought I would be in San Francisco forever but life changed, as it's wont to do, and in 1996 I moved to Boulder, Colorado. It was a perfect move and I settled right into life in that wonderful place. Boulder has a thriving intellectual and artistic community and I enjoyed being involved with many not-for-profit groups. I was on the Boards of several visual and performing arts organizations as well as Meals on Wheels and the Boulder County AIDS Project. I also raised six Guide Dogs for the Blind and the photo album contains a couple of shots of them. My volunteer work kept me constantly challenged and brought great rewards in terms of wonderful friendships and the feeling of helping my community. The fact that Boulder isn't far from some of the best skiing in the world didn't hurt matters either.
Back in 1989 I went to Australia for the first time and immediately fell in love with it and I spent the next twelve years visiting the country for three or four months each year. Eventually I found the perfect place, Noosa in Queensland, and made the decision to live here half the year. I did that for a couple of years until I realized that America was no longer the place I wanted to live and I shifted over to Noosa full time. I still get back to The States a few times a year and, in fact, was in Colorado for the Democratic National Convention which was one of the most amazing weeks of my life. It was also great being involved in Barack Obama's campaign and going back to Boulder again in November for the victory parties after his election.
I've been an avid collector of red w...Expand for more
ine and contemporary art and am frequently told that my home looks like a really fun art gallery. It's a nice place for parties and I have lots of them. When I first moved here, I met a lot of people through tennis and by getting involved as a volunteer with local charities. I took up golf about four years ago and that opened another door and now I play at least three times a week with a great group of golf buddies. I've managed to get my handicap down to 23 but I'm convinced if I just practice a bit more, I could be a bogey golfer. Considering how late in life I started to play, I'm thrilled with my progress and loving it. Strangely enough, my coach is from America so I hear an American accent once a week.
I must say that everything you may have heard about Aussies being partying folks is absolutely true ... I host or go to at least a BBQ a week and there's always a sunset cruise or a pool party happening the other nights of the week. We don't actually "throw a shrimp on the barbie" because down here they're called prawns but you can be sure a lot of prawns are tossed on. The small beach town where I live is only 150 km from the capital of Queensland and I go there at least once a week for all the cultural things that I love. There's a thriving art/theatre/music scene in Brisbane and it's fun to go and check into a hotel and spend a day or two doing the city things that I still love knowing that the peace and quiet of paradise is only ninety minutes up the road when I get tired of city noise.
I've taken to my new life Down Under like a duck to water; Australia is a wonderful and beautiful place and I feel very lucky to have found the place that most Aussies think is the best part of their country. After all, what's not to like about a town where you're moments from the ocean, and twelve months a year you can have the top down on the convertible and play golf?
Like all of us, I'm wondering where the years went since I usually feel more like a 24 year old than a 54 year old. I guess my philosophy in life has been that I might grow old but I refuse to grow up. It's been a fun ride thus far.
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