Grandpa's Secret

I once asked my grandpa, "How do you stay so young as you grow older every year? " I remember Grandpa smiling as he put his arm around me and whispered in my ear. "I can't stop from getting older." He said "I know one day the last verse of my song will be sung… but in the meantime finding happiness every day helps me feel young." "That's not to say life is always easy… there will always be tragedy and sadness too but whatever life throws at me…this is what I try to do…" "I try to love more than I hate…I try to give more than I take… And I prepare myself for a new adventure every moment I'm awake." "I've found when I try to live this way more often than not…surprisingly I don't have to search for happiness…because happiness will find me." I remember the day the final verse of Grandpa's song was sung… a smile met my tears as I thought…how the old man did die young. I think about this often now that Grandpa's gone… How though he is no longer here…his legacy lives on. How the chorus of his song has continued…as all great choruses do in me…and in everyone he told his secret to. In all of us who try to love more than we hate… who try to give more than we take… and who prepare ourselves for a new adventure… every moment we're awake.