The first day
of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know
someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand
touched my shoulder.
I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady
beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, 'Hi
handsome. My name is Rose.
I'm
eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?'
I laughed and
enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me a giant
squeeze.
'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I
asked.
She
jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a
couple of kids...'
'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have
motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
'I always
dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!' she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a
chocolate milkshake.
We became instant friends. Every day for the next
three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop I was always
mesmerized listening to this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom and
experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus
icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and
she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was
living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our
football banquet.
I'll never
forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As
she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on
the floor.
Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the
microphone and simply said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent
and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me
just tell you what I know.'
I
love this paragraph
As we
laughed she cleared her throat and began, 'We do not stop playing because we are
old; we grow old because we stop playing.
There are only four secrets to
staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find
humor every day.. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you
die.
We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even
know it!There is a huge difference between growing older and growing
up.If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and
don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am
eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will
turn eighty-eight.
Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent
or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportun ity in change.
Have no regrets.The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did,
but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those
with regrets.'
She concluded her speech by courageously singing 'The
Rose.'She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in
our daily lives.
At the year's
end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years
ago.One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her
sleep. 
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute
to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can
possibly be.
When you finish reading this, please
send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family, they'll really
enjoy it!
These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.
REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS
OPTIONAL.
We make a
Living by what we get, We make a Life by what we give.
God promises a
safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you
through it.