I arrived at my mother's home for our Monday family dinner. Mother was 1 quilt after quilt from the boxes, 2 showing me their beauties. She was preparing for a quilt show at the Elmhurst Church. When we began to 3and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the4of one box.

    “What is this?” I asked.

    “Oh?” Mom said, “That's Mama's quilt.”

    I 5 the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had pieced it together; 6designs, 7 pictures, a winding line on the right.

    “Grandmother made this?” I said, 8 My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This 9 didn't look like any of the quilts she had made.

    “Yes, right before she died. I 10 it home with me last year and made some 11” she said. “I'm still 12 on it. See, this is what I've done so far.”

    I looked at it more 13 At the center of the quilt, she had sewn a piece

of14 with these words:  “My mother made many quilts. She didn't get all lines15. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it 16. Her last quilt.”

    “Oh, this is so nice, Mom,” I said. It17to me that by completing my grandmother's quilt, my mother was honoring her own 18. I realized, too, that I held in my hands a family

    19. It started with the loving hands of one woman, and 20 with the loving hands of another.

    When I was about twelve, I was taken out for dinner with my family one day. As we headed towards the 1, a girl about my age came up to us and asked if we had any spare2. My mom asked where she kept her things. She pointed to an old car. She said there were six of them3in that car, which was the same size as my own 4

    After 5   her a few dollars, we said goodbye. Then, my mother sent me inside the restaurant with my grandparents, my dad and my6. But she didn't come. 7, she had gone home and 8our cupboards(橱柜) into a few bags. She brought all the 9 over to the car and handed the bags to the family. I wasn't there when that10, but I could imagine the 11appearing on their faces.

    Later, when I 12about what she had done, I asked her 13 she helped them. She told me that the girl's family 14 needed help. The girl and I were the same15, yet we lived 16 lives.

    Here I stood, 17 in good clothes, headed to dine in a restaurant and then back home to the bedroom I 18 with my sisters. I remembered thinking that the other girl didn't have any food to eat and had to share a cold car with five other people.

    After 19this picture in my mind, I understood why my mom had done what she had done. She 20 me one of the best lessons I ever learned.

    I was appointed to tend to this patient several weeks ago and began to grow closer to her. Communicating with her was1because everything she wanted to say to me had to be written on a notepad. As a nursing graduate, I was able to2her mind by observing even a slight 3 in a patient's facial expression.

    One day, when I was checking the patient, she4me on the shoulder to show me a note, "Do you think I could be let go5the hospital in a month to see my niece get married?" Taking her hand in mine, I told her that I could not6her, because I did not want to leave her a7sense of hope. 8, I made her believe that I would be there with her every step of the way on her journey toward9 Hearing that, the patient gave me a 10and a hug.

    Day by day, 1 built her11by walking around the floor with her. As I did this, I could see before my own eyes that her health was12improving and able to walk more steadily. On her last day in hospital, just before her niece's 13, she wrote me one last note, "I couldn't have done this14you; I love you." After kissing goodbye, I had a strong sense of achievement. I realized that moments like this were

    15I woke up early for16 in the hospital and spent long hours with her. I truly felt, and her17confirmed, that I was an18 part of this woman's recovery. My experience with this patient shows me that this career allows me to touch the19of people in ways that people in other20will never get to experience.

    Last December, just a week before Christmas, I went to a local KMart store to pick up my layaway(预付定金购物). Upon reaching the counter, I 1 the clerk my layaway receipts and told her I was there to pay off the balance and take the  2 home with me. She grabbed my receipts, and kept messing with the computer 3 something was wrong. I felt a little uneasy. I was4 her to tell me my layaway had been misplaced or something of the sort.

5, after about ten minutes, she said. "Oh, that's why I can't find it in our 6. You should have 7a phone call a few days ago that your layaway was paid off by a(n) 8 Santa. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing! This kind of story only happens in the 9. Why was my family 10 to receive such a blessing?

    Immediately I asked the cashier if there was a 11 that I could leave something for the Santa 12 his random act of kindness, but she said that the individual wanted to 13 completely unknown. It definitely 14 my heart. However. I felt 15. I kept thinking that perhaps some family out there was not going to have a Christmas because they really couldn't 16to pick up their layaway.

    I decided to pay it 17, so I used the money I had for the balance on my account to purchase some 18 and on my way out, I gladly 19 them off inside a huge toy donation box. Since I had received such a nice, heart warming gesture from someone, I wanted to keep the 20 going. And it felt nice to receive and to be able to give right back.

    Little was road testing his mountain bike outside of Columbus, when his riding partner, Dixon, stopped suddenly. Something in the distance moving among the trees had 1 her attention. It 2 to be a five-month-old dog.

    "He was really thin and had a 3 leg," Little told CBS News. The cyclists fed the dog and 4 their water. They realized that the dog was coming with them, although they had no 5 how they could be. They were more than seven miles from downtown and riding bikes. "We couldn't 6 him," Little told the Ledger-Enquirer. "Out there, he was going to 7 others' food."

    Little had an idea. He carefully 8 up his new friend and slipped (使滑入) the dog's hind (后面的) legs into the back 9 of his cycling clothes. Then he put the dog's front paws (爪子) over his 10.

    "He was injured, so he wasn't trying to 11," Little says. "It was also 12 that we were there and ready to help."

    They came to a 13. There they got more water and food for the dog. That was when Shaw passed 14. The dog 15 her, licking (舔) her, Shaw found the dog was lovable and, after learning what had happened, 16, "I am keeping this dog. "

    Shaw named him Columbo 17 the town where they'd met and scheduled a (n) 18 on his broken leg. Today, Columbo is living on a farm with a horse and a six-year-old boy to keep him 19. As Dixon said, "He is the 20 dog alive."

    John's parents acquired the washer when he was a small boy. It happened during World War Ⅱ. His family never 1 a washing machine and, since gasoline was expensive, they could not 2 trips to the laundry several miles away. Keeping clothes 3 became a problem for young John's household.

    A family friend joined the army, and his wife 4 to go with him. John's family 5 to store their furniture while they were away. To the family's 6, the friend suggested they use their Bendix. So this is how they 7 the washer.

    Young John helped with the washing, and across the years he 8 a love for the old, green Bendix. But 9 the war ended. When the friends came to take it back, John grew terribly 10. His mother 11 him and said. "You must remember, that machine 12 belonged to us in the first place. That we ever got to use it at all was a gift. So, instead of being mad at it being taken 13, let's use this 14 to be grateful that we had it at all."

    The lesson turned out 15. Years later, John watched his eight-year-old daughter die a slow and painful death of leukemia (白血病). Though he 16 for months with her death, John could not begin getting over from the 17 until he remembered the old Bendix.

    His daughter was a 18. When he realized the simple fact, everything changed. He could now begin recovering from the death of his daughter. He started to see her as a marvelous gift that he was fortunate enough to 19 for a time. He felt 20. He found strength and recovery. He knew he could get through the valley of loss.