I was a single parent of four small children, working at a low-paid job. Money was always tight, but we had a 1 over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and if not a lot, always 2. Not knowing we were poor, my kids just thought I was 3. I've always been glad about that.

    It was Christmas time, and although there wasn't 4 for a lot of gifts, we planned to celebrate with a family party. But the big 5 for the kids was the fun of Christmas 6.

    They planned weeks ahead of time, asking 7 what they wanted for Christmas. Fortunately, I had saved $120 for 8 to share by all five of us.

    The big9 arrived. I gave each kid a twenty-dollar bill and 10 them to look for gifts of about four dollars each. Then everyone scattered(散开). We had two hours to shop; then we would 11 back at the “Santa's Workshop”.

    Driving home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits(情绪), 12 my younger daughter, Ginger, who was unusually 13. She had only one small, flat(瘪的) bag with a few candies—fifty-cent candies! I was so angry, but I didn't say anything 14 we got home. I called her into my bedroom and closed the door, 15 to be angry again. This is what she told me.

    “I was looking 16 thinking of what to buy, and I 17 to read the little cards in the ‘Giving Trees.' One was for a little girl, four years old, and all she 18 for Christmas was a doll(玩具娃娃). So I took the card off the tree and 19 the doll for her. We have so much and she doesn't have anything.”

    I never felt so 20as I did that day.

    The other day I was talking to a stranger on the bus; he told me that he had a good 1 in Chicago and he wondered if, by any chance, I 2 to know him . For a moment, I thought he might be 3 , but I could tell from the expression on his face that he was not. He was 4. I felt like saying that it was ridiculous (可笑的) to think that out of all the millions of people in Chicago I could possibly have ever bumped into his friend. But, 5, I just smiled and reminded him that Chicago was a very 6 city. He nodded, and I thought he was going to be content to drop the subject and talk about something else. But I was wrong. He was silent for a few minutes, and then he 7 to tell me all about his friend.

    His friend's main 8 in life seemed to be tennis. He was an excellent tennis player, and he even had his own tennis court（网球场）. There were a lot of people with swimming 9, yet there were only two people with private tennis court; his friend in Chicago was one of them. I told him that I knew several 10 like that, including my brother, who was doctor in California. He 11 that maybe there were more private courts in the country, than he realized but he did not know of any others. Then he asked me 12 my brother lived in California. When I said Sacramento, he said that was a coincidence(巧合) 13 his Chicago friend spent the summer in Sacramento last year and he lived next door to a 14 who had a tennis court in his backyard. I said I felt that really was a coincidence because my next-door neighbour had gone to Sacramento last summer and had hired the house next to my brother's house. For a moment, we stared at each other, but we did not say anything.

    “Would your friend's name happen（碰巧） to be Roland Kirkwood?” I asked finally. He laughed and said,“Yes. Would your brother's name happen to be Dr Rey Hunter?” It was my 15 to laugh. “Yes,” I replied.

    A Milwaukee bus driver went above the call of duty when she stopped to save an unlikely would-be passenger: a toddler.

    Irene Ivic was driving on a freeway overpass when she 1 a barefoot toddler, Milwaukee County Transit System spokesman Matt Sliker said. The child, wearing a red onesie and a diaper, was quickly 2 to the crossroads.

    "I'm just 3 I was in the right place at the right time, "Ivic said at the awards ceremony held in her 4 on Thursday.

    Ivic stopped the bus and ran out to 5 the toddler, as seen in a video 6 by the transit system. She carried the child to the bus, 7 passengers gathered in disbelief.

    "Oh my God. Oh my God. I am  8, "Ivic said in the video as she sat down in the driver's seat with the toddler.

    A 9 on the bus took off her winter coat and wrapped it 10 the little girl, who was 11 to the touch. The 12 were freezing that day, on December 22, according to the transit system.

    Ivic sat talking to the child, stroking her hair. The little one soon fell asleep in her 13, as seen in the video.

    The 19-month-old had been cold and scared but was 14 unharmed, police said.

    The child went missing after officials believe her mother had a 15 health crisis, the transit system statement said. "Authorities eventually 16 the baby with its father,"Sliker said.

    This is the ninth 17 a lost or missing child has been 18 by a Milwaukee County Transit System driver in recent years, according to the statement.

    "I absolutely love kids. I used to be a 19 and I have children of my own, so I'm so happy I was able to help this sweet, 20 baby, "Ivic said.

    My mother spent her childhood with her father on their farm in the US. She learned how to mend fences, plow fields, and make cheese. And she learned farm life doesn't offer1rewards, but if you stick with it, the effort and the long days2.

    My grandpa spent his later years living on a comer of the3, named Cherry Ridge, where they4riding horses together every Saturday before he died in 2012.

    Since that time, the farm has5into Cherry Ridge Therapeutic Learning Programs, a center for learning, horseback riding and companionship.

    "I am a 'road scholar', learning in an experiential way," Mom told me. "I feel I was6with eyes to see the needs of a(n)7spirit," she added. She has partnered with a8called Working to Empower Students Together (WEST), which helps young people with learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral challenges, or unstable home environments.

    Mom's latest project, the Farm Day Grief Camp, was9out of her grieving after the10 of my grandpa.

    "I'm an adult woman who lost my11only six years ago," Mom said. "There is nothing12than nature and animals to help with the13process." The camp's first visitors were five kids mourning the loss of a 7-year-old who died of cancer.14included painting and recalling the child's favorite things; and a balloon launch they called Sentiments to Heaven.

    "Each camper wrote one thing they wished they could15with their departed(去世的)loved one on their16," Mom-said. Children living with physical disabilities are also17at Cherry Ridge. Recently, a student in a wheelchair smiled ear-to-ear as he led the farm's mini horses around.

    Mom's vision18children, ensuring the lessons she learned on the farm will be19for years to come. I know my grandpa would be20.