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, achieving success. laughing and finding 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…
*
Some say love it is a riverSome 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 the chance
It’s the one who won’t be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying
That never learns to live
And 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 snow
Lies the seed that with the sun’s love
In the spring becomes a rose
There’s a new meme in town.
My good friend Barbara would love to see you and have you join in.
She’s made buttons to choose from.
So head on Over to Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers to join the fun.
You cannot do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson*
*(pg 25) Highlighted in Yellow A short course in living wisely and choosing well by H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Life’s Little Instruction Book and Rochelle Pennington
*(pg 8) Highlighted in Yellow A short course in living wisely and choosing well by H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Life’s Little Instruction Book and Rochelle Pennington
Make it a habit to do nice things for people who’ll never find out. That best portion of a man’s life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
~William Wordsworth*
*(pg5) Highlighted in Yellow A short course in living wisely and choosing well by H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Life’s Little Instruction Book and Rochelle Pennington
This meme is hosted by Mercedes at Mercedes Rocks
Theme for Hump Day Humor – Teachers
Next weeks theme – PETS
Hopefully this doesn’t offend anyone.
The professor started the class by telling them, In Veterinary Medicine it is necessary to have two important qualities as a doctor:
The first is that you not be disgusted by anything involving the animal body.
For an example, the Professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the dead cow, withdrew it and stuck it in his mouth. Go ahead and do the same thing, he told his students.
The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes. But eventually took turns sticking a finger in the butt of the dead cow and sucking on it.
When everyone finished, the Professor looked at them and said, “The second most important qual ity is observation. I stuck in my middle finger and sucked on my index finger.”
Now learn to pay attention. Life’s tough, it’s even tougher if you’re stupid.
This is an email that came across my desk today and I thought the analogy was so well spelled out that I’d like to pass it on.
One day I hopped into a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean he was really friendly. So I asked, “Why did you just do that? That guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!”
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck.” He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you.
Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so….. “Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t.”
Remember – Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!