Growing older is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

On the first day of college, the professor introduced himself and challenged the students to get to know someone they didn't already know. Brindha stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched her shoulder. She turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming with a smile that lit Brindha's entire being.

 

She said, "Hi beautiful! My name is Jasmine. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?" Brindha laughed and enthusiastically responded. "Of course you may! Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" and she gave a giant squeeze of a hug.

 

Jasmine jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel." Both of them shared a laugh. Brindha and Jasmine became instant friends. Every day, for the next three months, they would leave the class together and talk non-stop. Over the course of the year, Jasmine became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went.

 

At the end of the semester, Jasmine was invited to speak at the football banquet. After she was introduced, Jasmine stepped up to the podium, cleared her throat and began: "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. The secret of staying young, being happy and achieving success is that you have to laugh and find humour every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. There is a huge different between growing older and growing up. At eighty-seven, if I stay in bed for a year without doing anything, I will still 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 to change. The elderly usually don't have regrets about what they did, but about things they did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets. I have no regrets. I always dreamt of having a college education and now I'm getting one!"

 

Jasmine eventually earned the college degree, and a week after the graduation, she died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand students attended her funeral to pay tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

 

Remember, "Growing older is mandatory. Growing up is optional."