THE ROSE Recipe

How to make it

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• 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 joking 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 callenge 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 experiences 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 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 everyday. 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 producive 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 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 be.
• These words have been passed along
• in loving memory of ROSE.
• REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS
• MANDITORY. 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.
• anonymus