Posted on
November 24, 2008 by
Lisa
I received this email a few days ago and thought it would be nice to share such a warmhearted story being that Thanksgiving is just a few days away. I hope you enjoy.
My name is 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 and found 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 enthus iastically 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.
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.
‘Good friends are like stars…….You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there.’
and for providing me with some of the pictures. 
