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 nonstop.  I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.  Over the course of the years, 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, and achieving success.

You have to laugh and find 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 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 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.

In Loving Memory of Rose

Remember...Growing older is mandatory, growing up is optional!

As I turned to walk away a tear fell from my eye.  For all my life I'd
always thought I didn't want to die.  I had so much to live for, so much left to do.  It seemed almost impossible that I was leaving you.  I thought of all the yesterdays, the good ones and the bad.  I thought of all the love we shared, and all the fun we had.  If I could relive yesterday, just even for awhile, I'd say goodbye and kiss you, and maybe see you smile.  But then I fully realized that this could never be.  For emptiness and memories would take the place of me.  And when I thought of worldly things I might miss come tomorrow, I thought of you, and when I did, my heart was filled with sorrow.  When I walked through heaven's gates I felt so much at home.  When God looked down and smiled at me from His great golden throne, He said, "This is eternity, and all I've promised you.  Today your life on earth is past, but here life starts anew.  I promise no tomorrow, but today will always last.  And since each day's the same way, there's no longing for the past.  You have been so faithful, so trusting, and so true.  Though there were times you did some things you knew you shouldn't do.  You have been forgiven and now at last you're free.  So won't you come and take my hand and share my life with me? " 

So if tomorrow starts without me, don't think we're far apart, for every time you think of me, I'm right here in your heart.

Daddy's Pink Rose

Her hair up in a pony tail, her favorite dress tied with a bow.  Today was Daddy's Day at school, and she couldn't wait to go.  Her mommy tried to tell her that she probably should stay home.

Why, the kids might not understand if she went to school alone.  She was not afraid.  She knew just what to say, what to tell her classmates on this Daddy's Day.  Still her mother worried for her, to face this day alone.  That was why, once again, she tried to keep her daughter home.  But, the little girl went to school, eager to tell them all about a dad she never sees, a dad who never calls.

There were daddies along the wall in back for everyone to meet.  Children were  squirming in their seats.  One by one the teacher called a student from the class to introduce their daddy, as seconds slowly passed.  At last the teacher called her name.  Every child turned to stare.  Each of them were searching for a man who wasn't there.  "Where's her daddy at?" she heard a boy call out.  "She probably doesn't have one." another student dared to shout.  And from somewhere near the back she heard a daddy say, "Looks like another deadbeat dad, too busy to waste his day."

The words did not offend her as she smiled at her friends, and looked back at her teacher who told her to begin.  With hands behind her back, slowly she began to speak.  Out from the mouth of a child came words incredibly unique.  "My daddy couldn't be here because he lives so far away, but I know he wishes he could be with me on this day.  Though you cannot meet him, I wanted you to know all about my daddy, and how much he loves me so.  He loved to tell me stories, he taught me to ride my bike.  He surprised me with pink roses, and taught me to fly a kite.  We used to share fudge sundaes and ice cream in a cone.  Though you cannot see him, I'm not standing all alone.  My daddy's always with me, even though we are apart.  I know because he told me he'll forever be here in my heart."

With that her little hand reached up and lay across her chest.  Feeling her own heartbeat beneath her favorite dress.  From somewhere in the crowd of dads, her mother stood in tears, proudly watching her daughter, who was wise beyond her years; for she stood up for the love of a man not in her life.

Doing what was best for her, doing what was right, and when she dropped her hand back down, staring straight into the crowd, she finished with a voice so soft, but its message clear and loud.  "I love my daddy very much, he's my shining star.  If he could, he'd be here, but heaven's just too far.  Sometimes when I close my eyes, it's like he never went away."

Then she closed her eyes and saw him there that day.  To her mother's amazement, she witnessed with surprise, a room full of daddies and children all starting to close their eyes.  Who knows what they saw before them, who knows what they felt inside.  Perhaps for merely a second, they saw him at her side.  

"I know you're with me daddy," to the silence she called out.  What happened next made believers of those once filled with doubt.  Not one in that room could explain it, for each of their eyes had been closed.  But there, placed on her desktop was a beautiful fragrant pink rose.

And a child was blessed, if only a moment, by the love of her shining bright star.  Given the gift of believing, that heaven is never too far.

Author unknown

The Fence

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper.  His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.  The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.  Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.  He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all.  He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.  He said, "You have done well my son, but look at the holes in the fence.  The fence will never be the same.  When you say things in anger they leave a scar just like this one."

 You can put a knife in a man and draw it out.  It won't matter how may times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there.  A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.  Friends are a very rare jewel indeed.  They make you smile and encourage you to succeed.  They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.

Friendship

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86.400.  It carries over no balance from day to day.  Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day.

What would you do?  Draw out every cent, of course!!!

Each of us has such a bank.  Its name is TIME.

Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds.  Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purposes.  It carries over no balance.
It allows no overdraft.  Each day it opens a new account for you.  Each night it burns the remains of the day.  If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.  There is no going back.  There is no drawing against "tomorrow".  You must live in the present on today's deposits.  Invest it to get from it, the utmost in health, happiness, and success!  The clock is running.  make the most of today.

To realize the value of one year, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of one month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of one hour, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of one minute, ask a person who missed the train.
To realize the value of one second, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of one millisecond, ask a person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have!  Treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with.
Remember that time waits for no one.  Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery.  Today is a gift.  That's why it's called the present.

Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed.