ABOUT DREAMS

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 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 share 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, 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 years 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.

“Its Complicated”

“Why?” He asked.

“I don’t know… It is…” She fell silent searching for the right word.

“Complicated?” He came to help.

“Well, yes, complicated.”

“Don’t say that, honey. I love you, you love me, why can’t we be together?”

“I am not telling you we cannot, it is just…”

“Complicated…” He sighed.

“Right. Complicated,” she repeated trying to avoid meeting his eyes.

“What’s on your mind?” He demanded. “What’s wrong?”

“Do you really not get it?”

He was taken aback at her unexpected aggression. Never before he had seen her so furious. And yet, at the same time she looked so helpless and confused.
“Do you really not get it?” She repeated. “I had been madly in love with you all these months. I was ready to make sacrifices you would never even dream of. I could easily die for you; do anything you would ask me. I cared about you. I believed in you. I trusted you blindly.”

“But…” He tried to interrupt her but it was impossible to stop her now.

“You were everything for me. And when she had come into the scene, I couldn’t believe it was you. YOU, of all people. It was not the person I knew, not the person I loved, not the one I wanted to spend my life with. It was not you.”

“But I love you.”

“I know you do. But things changed. They are … complicated now.”

“Complicated,” He repeated.

“I love you, too. But this madness is gone, this passion is not there, the trust needs to be rebuilt. I am tired to fight alone. I don’t know what else I can give you. I have given you my heart. And if this is not enough, then… I am not enough.”
“And what will we do now?”

“I don’t know… It is…”

“Complicated,” both breathed out simultaneously.

A driver is pulled over by a policeman. The policeman approaches the driver’s door.
“Is there a problem Officer?”
The policeman says, “Sir, you were speeding. Can I see your license please?”
The driver responds, “I’d give it to you but I don’t have one.”
“You don’t have one?”
The man responds, “I lost it for drunk driving.”
The policeman is shocked. “I see. Can I see your vehicle registration papers please?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”
The policeman says, “Why not?”
“I stole this car.”
The officer says, “Stole it?”
The man says, “Yes, and I killed the owner.”
At this point the officer is getting stressed. “You what!?”
“She’s in the trunk of the car if you want to see.”
The Officer looks at the man and slowly backs away to his car and calls for backup. Within minutes, five police cars show up, surrounding the car. A senior officer slowly approaches the car with a drawn gun.
The senior officer says “Sir, could you step out of your vehicle please!”
The man steps out of his vehicle. “Is there a problem Officer?”
The officer responds, “Yes, could you please open the trunk of your car please?”
The man opens the trunk lid, revealing nothing but an empty trunk.
The officer says, “Is this your car sir?”
The man says “Yes,” and hands over the registration papers.
The officer, understandably, is quite stunned.
“One of my officers claims that you do not have a driving license.” The man digs in his pocket revealing a wallet and hands it to the officer.
The officer opens the wallet and examines the licence. He looks quite puzzled. “Thank you sir, one of my officers told me you didn’t have a licence, stole this car, and murdered the owner.”
The man replies, “And I'll bet that lying bastard told you I was speeding, too!”