An 87 Year Old College
Student Named 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 round 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.”
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.
Source : Facebook page
