GROW UP - NOT- OLD !!!!!
 
 "Have no regrets. The elderly "
 
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 there. 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
your 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 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 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 graduation
  banquet and 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.
1. You have to laugh and find humor every day.
  2. 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!
  3. "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 single 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."
  4. "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 young.
 
 HAVE A NICE DAY !!