{"id":48,"date":"2006-11-02T17:56:39","date_gmt":"2006-11-03T00:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/?p=48"},"modified":"2010-11-17T18:21:57","modified_gmt":"2010-11-18T01:21:57","slug":"rose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/?p=48","title":{"rendered":"rose"},"content":{"rendered":"

a story of rose appeared in my e-mailbox yesterday
\ncontent of which i share its pearly ray
\nto ponder on growing old vs growing up
\nlife is what you choose, what and how you sup<\/p>\n

first day of school, the professor challenged us
\nget to know someone, to quench our thirst
\ni stood up and looked around
\na gentle hand upon my shoulder found<\/p>\n

a wrinkled, little old lady beamed at me
\nher smile lighting up her entire being like shiny sea
\nhi handsome, my name is rose and i am 87 years old
\ncan i give you a hug bold, you to behold<\/p>\n

of course you may, and a giant squeeze rippled through my cartilage
\nwhy are you in college, at such young, innocent age?
\ni’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of kids, she joshed
\ni always dreamed of having a college education, now getting one, of course!<\/p>\n

after class, to student union building we walked to share a milkshake
\ninstant friends we became, everyday mesmerizing conversations make
\na “time machine” she shared her wisdom, experience and friendship spread dear
\nrose became a campus icon over course of the year<\/p>\n

she loved to dress up and reveled in attention bestowed by all
\nshe was living it up and having a ball
\nat semester end, rose was invited to speak at our football banquet
\nas she stepped up to the podium, her 3×5 cues dropped which stirred a racquet<\/p>\n

frustrated and embarassed, she apologized
\ni gave up beer for lent, oh this whiskey is killing me, my jitters dramatized
\ni’ll never get my speech in order, so
\njust let me tell you what i know, off the cuff i go
\nwe do not stop playing because we are old
\nwe grow old because we stop playing, she told<\/p>\n

there are 4 secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success
\nyou have to laugh and find humor everyday, in life to caress
\nyou’ve got to have dreams, fill your life to the brim
\ncos’ when you lose your dreams, you die – she beamed
\nwe have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it
\nthere is a huge difference between growing older and growing up, she lit<\/p>\n

if you are 19 years old and lie in bed for 1 full year
\nand not do one productive thing, you’ll turn 20 years old, my dear
\nif i am 87 years old, just stay in bed and never do anything
\na year later, 88 years old i ring<\/p>\n

anybody can grow older, it doesn’t take talent or ability
\nthe idea is to grow up and always find in change, opportunity
\nthe elderly usually have no regrets for what they did
\nbut rather for things they did not do, kid
\nfor you see, the only people who fear death are those with regrets
\nconcluding her speech, she sang “the rose” for us to place our life bets<\/p>\n

at year’s end, rose finished the college degree she begun all those years ago
\none week after graduation peacefully in her sleep, rose gave up her mojo
\nover 2000 college students attended her funeral
\nin tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example
\nthat it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be
\nthat’s all you need to earn life degree<\/p>\n

these words, in loving memory of rose, to live life optimal
\ngrowing older is mandatory; growing up is optional
\nwe make a living by what we get
\nwe make a life by what we give, you bet<\/p>\n

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage
\nif God brings you to it, He will bring you through it, is the message<\/p>\n

\"shahzad_rose8.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

bette midler sings:
\nsome say love, it is a river
\nthat drowns the tender reed
\nsome say love, it is a razor
\nthat leaves your soul to bleed
\nsome say love, it is a hunger
\nan endless, aching need
\ni say love, it is a flower
\nand you, its only seed<\/p>\n

it’s the heart afraid of breaking
\nthat never learns to dance
\nit’s the dream afraid of waking
\nthat never takes the chance
\nit’s the one who won’t be taken
\nwho cannot seem to give
\nand the soul, afraid of dying
\nthat never learns to live<\/p>\n

when the night has been too lonely
\nand the road has been too long
\nand you think that love is only
\nfor the lucky and the strong<\/p>\n

just remember in the winter
\nfar beneath the bitter snows
\nlies the seed that with the sun’s love
\nin the spring, becomes the rose<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

a story of rose appeared in my e-mailbox yesterday content of which i share its pearly ray to ponder on growing old vs growing up life is what you choose, what and how you sup first day of school, the professor challenged us get to know someone, to quench our thirst i stood up and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1400,"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/1400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirley-kwan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}