Rose
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 handsom e. 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."
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 opportunity 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.
Pass this message on if you want to. If so, you may receive a miracle tomorrow (if
you don't think so...look out your window when you wake in the morning and
think about it)
"Good friends are like
stars.........You don't always see them, but you know they are always
there."
Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
An endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
And you it's only seed.
It's the heart, afraid of breaking,
That never learns to dance.
It's the dream, afraid of waking,
That never takes a chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
Who cannot seem to give.
And the soul, afraid of dyin',
That never learns to live.
When the night has been too lonely,
And the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love,
In the spring becomes the rose.