The first day of university our professor introduced a new student who appears to be very different from the rest of us. That is Rose, an eighty-seven-year-old lady who always wore a big smile on her face. “Why are you in college at this age?” 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. Over the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she enjoyed being the center of attention from the other students. She was living it up! At the end of the semester, we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. She was introduced and stepped up to the stage. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her speech cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the speaker and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m a bit nervous. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me!” As we laughed Rose cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop laughing 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! Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we didn’t do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets. Finally, there is a huge difference between growing old 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. This is growing old, by doing nothing to your life. The idea of growing up is to always find opportunity to change.” 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. When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful advice to your friends and family: Remember, we cannot avoid growing old, but we can choose our own ways to grow up.