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.'

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.

'Good friends are like stars.... .....You  don't always see them, but you know they are always  there.'

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