Growing Old & Growing Up

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 children and
then retire and travel."

"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 non-stop. 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 revelled 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 humour 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." 
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out 
in our daily lives. At the years 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.

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY, GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.