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,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 the
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." (I've put the words
from the song down below for you).
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.
The Rose Amanda McBroom
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.
Gail |
