Jack was born without eyes. He's very lucky with his timing. He grew up having other kittens to play and socialize with, and was used to people from the moment he was born since there are always kids hanging around the barn. He was a favorite amongst the students at the barn. However, when it came time to find the kittens homes, no one knew where Jack would end up. That's when I got an e-mail from my friend. All she asked was “Do you still want one of the kittens? There's one here with no eyes and no one can take him.” Without thinking I told her that I did want the kitten.

    When we first brought him home Jack stayed mostly in my room. He walked cautiously around, sniffing everything. After about a day he had no issues running around, jumping onto my bed and climbing on everything. He went through a time where he could climb the stairs, but couldn't get down. He would sit at the top and cry until someone came and got him. Every now and then when he gets disoriented he'll stop and cry. But we just call his name and talk to him and it isn't long before he finds his way back to us.

    Also, a few weeks after getting Jack, we got a new barn cat named Bear. I always take Jack outside at that time for some fresh air and exercise. He loves to run (at top speed!) around the back yard and gardens. Bear and Jack have become best friends. It doesn't matter that he can't see, Jack always knows when Bear is around. He'll run across the yard straight to Bear and wrap his front legs around his neck in a big hug. They chase each other around and wrestle, and when they're tired they'll lie down in the grass together.

    Jack is truly an inspiration. I've owned a lot of kittens in my life, but Jack is the happiest, most playful of them all. He doesn't feel sorry for himself. Heck, for all he knows, all cats are just like him. People who know Jack don't feel sorry for him. They cherish him for the treasure that he is. I have talked to a few people who haven't met him personally who tend to pity him, but they just don't understand. Jack doesn't need pity. I think Jean (who has Gumbo the eyeless ginger) said it best when she told me that cats don't have disabilities, they have adaptabilities.

    When Cherry Watson travelled on a recent flight from New York to Washington and noticed an 'awful tension' in the cabin, she first thought it was caused by typical bad-tempered passengers. But as the flight neared its end, it became obvious that something was very wrong.

    A teenage boy with Down Syndrome (唐氏综合症) who was traveling with his family had become upset and would not return to his seat, regardless of the cabin crew's warnings over the loudspeaker that it was almost time to land. The pilot was forced to circle above the airport, delaying the landing and angering people on the already tense flight.

    'If it was a cartoon,' remembered Watson, 'there would have been smoke coming out of people's ears.'

    The boy's elderly parents and adult brothers and sisters tried to persuade him to get off the floor and back into his seat, but in vain. Watson, who used to be a teacher, stood up and quickly headed to the back of the plane.

    She found the boy in the passage between rows of seats, lying on his belly, and lay down on her stomach to face him. She began chatting calmly with him, asking his name, his favorite book, and his favorite characters. He told her he felt sick and she tried to comfort him.

    Minutes later, he allowed her to hold his hand, and then together they got properly back into airplane seats. Watson asked for sick bags, and held them as the boy threw up several times, including on her. As she helped him clean up, she repeatedly told him everything would be okay and that they'd get through it together.

    After the plane was finally able to land, no one was impatient to step off the flight as one might expect. Instead, calmed passengers—obviously following Watson's amazing example—allowed the boy and his family to depart first, smiling at them as they passed. His parents tearfully thanked Watson for what she had done, and a doctor sitting nearby also let her know he had even taken notes on her expert way of handling the situation.

    My husband and I had been married nearly twenty-two years when I acquired Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a disorder where my immune system (免疫系统) responded to a virus by producing painful blisters (水疱). Although my long-term evaluation was good, I, who had been so fiercely independent, rapidly became absolutely helpless.

    My husband, Scott, stepped up to the plate, taking care of kids and cooking dinners. He also became my personal caretaker, applying the medicine to all of my blisters because my hands couldn't do the job. Needless to say, I had negative emotions, bouncing from embarrassment to shame caused by total reliance on someone other than myself.

    At one point when I had mentally and physically hit bottoms I remember thinking that Scott must somehow love me more than I could ever love him. With my illness, he had become the stronger one, and I was the weaker one. And this disturbed me.

    I recovered from my illness, but I couldn't seem to recover from the thought that I loved my husband less than he loved me. This seeming distinction in our love continued to annoy me for the year following my illness.

    Then recently Scott and I went on a long bike ride. He's an experienced cyclist; I'm quite the green hand. At one point with a strong headwind and sharp pain building in my tired legs, I really thought I couldn't go any further. Seeing me struggle, Scott pulled in front of me and yelled over his shoulder, “Stay close behind me.” As I fell into the draft of his six-foot-three-inch frame and followed his steps, I discovered that my legs quit burning and I was able to catch my breath. My husband was pulling me along again. At this very moment I woke up to what I now believe: during these and other tough times, love has the opportunity to become stronger when one partner learns to lean on the other.

    I pray my husband will always be strong and healthy. But if he should ever become the struggling one, whether on a bike ride or with an illness, I trust I'll be ready to call out to him: stay close behind me — my turn to pull you along.

    Here are our suggestions for keeping busy this week. Dive in!

    Take to the waves in Southampton

    Always fancied trying your hand at sailing? Now's your chance. The Southampton Boat Show has plenty of opportunities for visitors to get out on the water to experience boat sailing, power boating or taking a ride on a RIB ― all for free.

    Discover an island on the Thames

    To celebrate Totally Thames, a month-long festival is held at various locations across London. We've discovered 21 of the river's most fascinating islands ― all of them with interesting stories to tell. Make the most of it with our map here.

    Catch great films in Bristol

    Over six days, Encounters Film Festival screens up to 400 films from over 60 different countries. The Bristol festival provides a platform for international filmmakers, and offers a gateway to the likes of the BAFTAs, Oscars and European Film Awards. See here for full details.

Get scientific in London

    Experience the latest, best and most challenging science covering all areas of our lives and universe at New Scientist Live at ExCel London. New Scientist Live is a four-day festival full of ideas and discoveries from the team behind the world's most popular science weekly magazine, featuring four zones Brain & Body, Technology, Earth and Universe as well as talks from experts and over 200 exhibitors.

    Fire fighting is a serious matter. Knowing what to do during a fire can save people's lives. It is important to know the ways you can use and show them to everyone else in the family, such as stairways and emergency exits, but not elevators.

    From the lower floors of buildings, escape through windows is possible. Learn the best way to get out from a window with the least chance of serious injury.

    The second floor window is usually not very high from the ground. An average person, hanging by the fingertips will have a drop of about 6 feet to the ground. It is about the height of an average man. Of course, it is safer to jump a short way down than to stay in a burning building.

    Windows are also useful when you are waiting for help. Be sure to keep the door closed before opening the window. Otherwise, smoke and fire may be drawn into the room. Keep your head low at the window to be sure you get fresh air rather than smoke that may have leaked(漏)into the room.

    On the second or third floor, the best windows for escape are those which open onto a roof. From the roof a person can drop to the ground more safely. Dropping onto cement might end in injury. Bushes and trees can help you to have a soft landing.

    Allen Cook and his daughter Melissa were renovating(整修) her house, when they found a beautiful, heart-warming love story. "The envelope in the ceiling was old and yellow. It had never been opened, It was unbelievable when my son-in-low started reading it. In the letter she was talking about the baby she was going to have," Allen Cook said.

    The story began in May 4, 1945, the typed letter was written by a woman named Virginia to her husband, Rolf Christoffersen. At the time, he was a sailor in the Norwegian navy. The envelope was marked "return to sender" and never found its way to her husband. Allen's daughter used the Internet to find the phone number of someone named Rolf Christoffersen and gave him a call, leading her to his son in Santa Barbara, California.

    "Someone called me at my office. They just googled my name because I have the same name as my father. Melissa asked me where I grew up and I told her. She told me she had the letter," Christoffersen's son, 66 now, said. The younger Christoffersen wasn't yet born when his mother Virginia wrote the letter, but he said her words were very special to him. His mother, who died six years ago, wrote about her love for her husband.

    "I love you Rolf, as I love the warm sun, and that is what you are for my life, the sun about which everything else revolves around me," she wrote. Seventy-two years later, her words were finally heard by her husband. Christoffersen immediately called his father, who is now 96. And read the letter to him over the phone. "I was so surprised after all these years. I was very emotional," the elder Christoffersen said.

    The long-lost letter was finally received just before Mother's Day; it was another tangible connection to Virginia Christoffersen. "It's Mother's Day and reading her words reminded me just what a wonderful person she was and how much she loved us" her son said, through tears.