It was 15 years ago.

It seems like 15 minutes ago.

That’s when I began writing about Baby Maddie.

Many of you have been along with us on Maddie’s ride since then, others not so long.

For some, this may be new to you, so let me bring you up to speed.

It was a cold, wintry night in Alpena on Jan. 5, 2010. Daughter Jamie was giving birth to her first child.

To say she was excited would be an understatement, for sure.

She knew she was having a baby girl. The baby’s room at home was prepared all “girlie,” waiting patiently for the new resident.

All was going perfectly.

But, minutes after Baby Maddie was born and laid into her mother’s arms, the true story of that remarkable young girl began.

Jamie knew instantly that Maddie had Down syndrome. As a doctor of occupational therapy, Jamie worked almost daily with disabled children, many of whom had Down syndrome, and she knew everything she had hoped for was being turned upside down and life was going to be much different than expected.

To complicate things, Maddie was born with two small holes in her heart, and, for the next 24 hours, she struggled with life.

But, as she was again in her mother’s arms, Baby Maddie looked up to her mother with eyes that Jamie later wrote about. Maddie’s eyes were saying, “Mom, I need you.”

Jamie herself wasn’t averse to struggles.

You see, Jamie was born nearly deaf, with only about 90% hearing. She was initially denied school when she was 5, as the school thought she would be better off going to a school for the deaf.

But her mother and I said no and asked the school to reconsider. They did, and, not only did they agree to accept her, they made accommodations for daily speech therapy, sign language, and lip reading.

Jamie began to learn, and still one of the happiest moments of my life was watching her accept her doctorate degree from Creighton University and seeing her decide to dedicate her life to working with disabled children.

Little did she know then that her first child would take all her strength and knowledge to make life fulfilling and complete for Baby Maddie.

But now, 15 years later and on the eve of Maddie’s 15th birthday, I thank God, Jamie and her husband, Scott, and everyone who has helped Maddie blossom into the amazing young lady she is.

Maddie is a freshman in high school. She has a quest for knowledge, works harder than anyone I know at trying to be like us, and has dreams of being a marine biologist, working with sea creatures.

I thank her swim team coach, her dancing instructors, her therapists, her doctors, and her aides. Maddie has an IEP (individual educational plan) established by the teachers and her parents that allow accommodations and modifications for her learning, and learning she is! Maddie has turned into a thriving teenage social butterfly who loves everyone.

She leaves a wake of smiles wherever she goes.

That is not to say life isn’t difficult for her, but she obviously has her mother’s strength and compassion to help her jump every hurdle put in her path.

I don’t know what her future will be, but I do know she will do her best, surpass expectations, and continue to teach us more than we could ever teach her.

In today’s chaotic world, fraught with wars, social unrest, political finger-pointing, high prices, and too much hate, Maddie lives her life without judging us on race, religion, gender, politics, or economic conditions. She judges us on character, honesty, love and compassion. She sees beauty in a world that can be ugly. She feels someone else’s pain more than her own.

Those are life lessons we all could learn from Maddie.

It’s been 15 years since Maddie began teaching me what is and isn’t important in life, and I am still learning from that amazing young lady.

My hope for you as we enter this new year — and I am positive it is Maddie’s hope, as well — is that we search for the beauty around us, in the people we meet and in the incredible life we are blessed with, and that we find it as easily as she does.

Happy New Year to all, and happy 15th birthday to Maddox (formerly known as Baby Maddie).

Do you have a Maddie in your life, or a special person who helps us find the peace we all strive for? Let me know at gregawtry@awtry.com.

Greg Awtry is the former publisher of the Scottsbluff (Neb.) Star-Herald and Nebraska’s York News-Times. He is now retired and living in Hubbard Lake. Greg can be contacted at gregawtry@awtry.com.