At my heaviest I weighed 370 pounds. I had a very poor relationship with food: I used it to 1bad feelings, to make myself feel better, and to celebrate. Worried about my health, I tried many different kinds of 2 but nothing worked. I came to believe that I could do nothing about my 3.

    When I was 50, my weight problem began to affect me 4 . I didn't want to live the rest of my life with this 5 weight any more.

    That year, I6 a seminar where we were asked to create a project that would touch the world. A seminar leader shared her 7story —she had not only 125 pounds, but also raised $25,000 for homeless children.

   8 by her story, I created the As We Heal(痊愈), the World Heals 9. My goal was to lose 150 pounds in one year and raise $50,00010 a movement founded 30 years ago to end hunger. This combination of healing myself and healing the world11 me as the perfect solution.

    12I began my own personal weight program, I was filled with the fear that I would 13 the same difficulties that beat me before. While the 14 hung over my head, there were also signs that I was headed down the right 15. I sent letters to everyone I knew, telling them about my project. It worked perfectly. Donations began 16in from hundreds of people.

    Of course, I also took some practical steps to lose weight. I consulted with a physician（内科医生）, I hired a fitness coach, and I began to eat small and 17meals. My fund-raising focus also gave me new motivation to exercise 18.

    A year later, I19my goal: I lost 150 pounds and raised $50,000! I feel that I've been given a second life to devote to something that is 20 and enormous.

    My mother asked me to call my grandmother. What could we possibly have a1about? Nothing! I just did what she told me and2called my grandmother.

    When she3the phone, I planned. to have a small,10-minute exchange.4, she invited me to lunch at her house so we could5together. Hesitantly, I agreed.

    After hanging up the phone I immediately6agreeing to the lunch date on Saturday.

    Surprisingly, my Saturday morning wasn't7.I found it was nice to see her. I forgot the time8her stories about her recent trip to Europe and her sewing class. I wasn't9that 60-year-old people had a social life. It turned out that he r10wasn't as mundane（平凡的）as I thought. I was happy to have spent time with her. We planned to meet11at her house. My mom didn't have to12me any more.

    This time I didn't feel the gloom（忧郁）.13 I wanted to ask were building up in my mind: What was my grandfather like? What did you do at my age?

    As we looked through pictures, I was14.I had never seen, nor imagined, my grandmother as a young girl. She reminded me of myself. I learned that as humans, we15human experiences, no matter what age.

    She told me about the time she and her friends went swimming in the lake late at night and the first time she met my16."You would have adored him. He was the funniest man I'd ever met." We sorted through three shoeboxes of photographs, each with a17story.

    Ever since that18phone call to my grandmother, we have talked at least once a week. I regret not calling her earlier. She has19me what can't be learned in a textbook: being open to new things, enjoying the simple things, and appreciating what life has given me. I have20a new perspective（视角）on life.

    I recently heard a story about a famous scientist who had made several very important medical breakthroughs（突破）. He was being interviewed by a reporter who asked him1 he thought he was able to be so much more 2 than the average person.

    He responded that it all came from a(n) 3 with his mother that happened when he was about 2. He had been trying to 4 milk from the fridge when he 5 the slippery(光滑的) bottle, its contents running all over the kitchen floor.

    When his mother came in, 6shouting at him or giving him a lecture, she said, “Robert, what a great and wonderful 7 you have “drawn”! I have 8 seen such a huge pool of milk. Well, the damage has already been 9 . Would you like to get down and 10 in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up？”

    His mother then said, “ You know, what we have here is a 11 experiment in how to effectively carry a big milk bottle with two 12 hands. Let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if you can 13it .” The little boy learned that if he 14 the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it. What a wonderful 15 !

    This scientist then said that it was at that moment that he knew he didn't need to be 16 to make mistakes. Instead, he learned that mistakes were just 17 for learning something new, which is, 18, what scientific experiments are all about. Even if the experiment “doesn't 19 ,” we usually learn something 20 from it.

    I was in the kitchen making lunch when I saw my six-year-old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. I could only see his back. He 1 to be walking with a great effort, trying to be as 2 as possible.

    A few minutes after he disappeared into the 3, he came running toward the house again. I went back to making sandwiches, 4 that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, 5, he was once again walking slowly toward the woods.

    6curiosity, I walked out and followed him on his journey. He was 7 both hands in front of him as he walked, being 8 not to spill the water he held in them. I secretly walked 9 behind him as he went into the woods and I saw the most amazing 10.

    Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost 11 at him to get away. A huge male deer with elaborate（精美的）antlers was 12 close. But they didn't even move as Billy 13. And I saw a small deer lying on the ground, obviously suffering from 14and extreme heat, lift its head 15 to drink the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hands.

    It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of 16. You know, we hadn't had any rain for three months and our crops were 17. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly 18 by other drops. I looked up at the sky. It was19 God was moved to weep. The rain came that day and saved our farm, just like the 20 of one little boy who saved another.

    Johnny and I lived in a small neighborhood in 1955. We had bought our two young sons two 1 for Christmas and Johnny would assemble them on Christmas Eve.

    But on Christmas Eve day, Johnny 2 to go to Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile to repair a jet. I had my hands 3 with flour, preparing for Christmas dinner and 4 two energetic boys.

    I was making the chocolate cake when a(n) 5 knocked on the door. It was Beatrice who was the 6 person on our road with a telephone. The base had 7 to say that a heavy torque wrench (扭矩扳手) had come apart in Johnny's hand, making the hone 8 . My sister-in-law Ruth and her husband, Otto, took me to the 9 while my mother-in-law stayed with the children.

    We got there only to10 Johnny with a cast on his arm, eager to get home although the doctor required that he 11. It was Christmas Eve, Johnny 12, and he had bikes to assemble for his boys. The doctor said he'd consider 13 him the next morning if Johnny could find someone to drive him home.

    On Christmas morning, Johnny tried calling the motor pool (车辆调配所). They said 14 must come from higher up, so Johnny15 making calls. 16, a big blue car rolled up to the hospital asking for the man who needed a 17 home.

    Johnny's mother and I were putting dinner on the table when we heard the car. We were 18 to see Johnny. With Otto's help, Johnny assembled the boys' gifts.

That cold Christmas Day, our hearts were full of 19 for those who had gone the extra mile to bring us 20 on the holiday.

    Over the last 15 years, as a doctor, I have had heart-to-heart conversations with countless patients near the end of their lives. The most common emotion they express is 1. And that's 2 I came up with a project to encourage people to write a 3 to their loved ones. It's a lesson I learned years ago from a memorable 4 patient.

    He was a retired 5 with a cancer. Every day, his 6 spent many hours watching him watch television. She explained to me he had never been much of a 7 in their 50-plus years of marriage. But he seemed quite 8 to share his ideas with me, 9 when it became clear his days were 10. He spoke of his deep regret for not having spent enough time with his wife, and of his great 11 in his son, who had joined the Navy in his father's footsteps.

    One afternoon, when I mentioned these 12 to his wife and son, they looked disbelievingly at each other. They thanked me for being so kind but 13 my patient was unlikely to express such feelings. To make sure his family could hear his 14, I took my video camera with me the next morning and with the patients' 15, recorded an open letter from him to his family. When I gave them the 16 letter, both his wife and son were moved to tears.

    The experience 17 my letter project, which can help people complete their life review tasks: remembering to those we may have hurt; 18 those who have hurt us and saying "I love you". It may take much courage to write a life review letter. For some people, it 19 deep and troubling emotions. 20 it may be the most important letter you will ever write.