-----Original Message-----
From: Bobbie Mead
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 8:20 AM
To: Ann McNeese; Carolyn Baldino; Claudia Carvalho; Cynthia Stuhlberg;
Franki Mayfield; Jennifer Moffit; Jo Price; Keena Edgerton; Kristine
Thomsen; Lin Dillehay; Martina Struck; Melissa Wolfe; Pam Carson
Subject: FW: A GREAT Lesson
Those who know me well, know I hate these sappy, make me cry e-mails. That
being said, this one was too inspiring to let slip by without sharing. Here
you go......
> *** A LESSON FROM ROSE *****************
>
> 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, 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 earning 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 reveled in the attention bestowed upon
> her from the other students. She was really "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,
> Rose 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 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."
> 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 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 are meant to be! Get going!!
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