I can still remember it as if it happened yesterday. I was a college freshman and had 1 most of the night before, laughing and 2 with friends. Now just before my first class of the day my eyelids were feeling heavier and heavier and my 3 was dropping down to my desk to make my textbook a 4. A few minutes' nap (小睡) time before class wouldn't hurt, I thought.

    BOOM! I 5 my eyes and looked around with my heart beating wildly trying to find the 6 of the noise. My young professor was looking at me with a 7 on his face. He had dropped his textbooks onto the teacher's desk 8. “Good morning!” he said, still smiling. “I am glad to see everyone is 9. Now let's get started.”

    For the next hour I wasn't 10 at all. It wasn't from the shock of my professor's textbook alarm clock. It was 11 from the interesting discussion he led. With knowledge and good humor, he made the material 12. His words were full of both wisdom and loving-kindness. When the class was over, I left the classroom not only wide awake, but a little 13 and a little better as well.

    I learned something far more important than not sleeping in class that day too. I learned that if you are going to do something in this life, do it well and do it with joy. What a wonderful world it would be 14 every teacher, doctor, cook, businessman, farmer and worker made their work an expression of their love. Don't sleepwalk through your life then. 15 up! Let your love fill your work. Life is too short not to live it well.

    A couple of weeks back, my friend had a yard sale(庭院拍卖会). She1to sell some of our stuff for us. I thought it would be a good chance to2my 7-year-old son's room and sell some toys that he no longer3 We agreed that whatever we sold in toys would be his4.

    The night before the sale, we loaded up the5with toys and a little bike that he was now6tall for. He had taken the bike for a final spin(高速旋转)7we left home but8put it on the truck for the sale. This little bike had had at least two9 owners that we knew of. It was not in the best10and it certainly was not shiny new but it was still a bike, and the tires were still good.

    We put a piece of $ 10 on it but it didn't11.So, after the sale was12, my friend put it on the sidewalk with a sign that13" FREE BIKE". Within five minutes her doorbell rang. A little boy was standing there. His English was not very good but he asked if the bike was really14.She said yes and told him that he could have it for nothing. He smiled, jumped on the bike and15away.

Later that evening when I told my son how much money he had16at the yard sale, he was very excited. The next day we were going to take the money to the bank. He asked about a few of his things,17if they had been sold. When he asked about the bike, I told him about the little boy and that he made a big18because he got the bike for free. The smiles on my son's face were truly19, much more than when I told him how much he had made. He was so excited to hear that someone else would get good20out of that little bike.

    I'm currently at a unique university, an inclusive one where 46 speech and hearing 1 students graduate each year. I have been working with these students to help them get clear on their career goals.

    Today, an 2 thing happened. One girl came at around 11: 30 am and sat down. I started with what we usually do. She can speak but cannot 3 or lip-read. So she started speaking in Tamil. When I managed to tell her that I couldn't speak Tamil, she spoke English.

    I 4 asking one question, and she went on for 10 minutes 5, and in Tamil. I understood a 6 of words here and there, so I knew she was not saying something 7 to what I asked. I was just looking straight in her eyes and smiling. I kept on 8 her without saying a word. This went on for an hour and a half!

    Then after a long 9, I told her to get back on 10 with another question. And then she shared for another half an hour straight! The 11 time I was just looking in her 12 but never 13 down.

    I had absolutely no 14 what she spoke for these hours, but what I knew was that I was listening to 15 she was sharing and also started understanding a bit in 16. Several times, I would 17 with a simple question: Are you happy? And she would 18 on.

    I was 19 happy because I saw her smiling in the end. And then, I just 20 and hugged her and she was smiling even wider.

    It's been a long time since I wrote a creative essay. Recently, with lots of time and lack of inspiration, I accepted a 1 to teach creative nonfiction. 2 I couldn't get myself to write my own stories. I could require that my students tell theirs.

    "You're going to be 3 a journal in this class." I said. "And I want you to tell your stories like they matter."

    "Why do they matter?" a boy named Michael asked. "I mean, who 4 about our stories?"

    No one said a wont. Perhaps they were just tired from their 5 lives. Many worked full-time while in school full-time. Most might not have the faintest 6 that their stories did matter. They didn't even know that their stories were stories — as beautiful and hard — as their own lives.

    7, I looked at Michael. "They matter because they do." I said. "Because you're here and you can tell them. Stories allow us to make 8 of what we're 9. When you 10 your experience into a story, it becomes yours and not just something that 11 to you."

    Michael didn't look 12 , but he didn't challenge me either.

    Later, Michael wrote about how he grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in Boston and how his high school teacher, who saw his 13, helped him fill out a college application.

    I 14 Michael to read his essay out loud. After he finished, the class went so 15 that we could hear the sound of each other's breath. I looked at Michael and saw a softening and 16 in his eyes.

    After a moment, I said, "That's 17 you tell your stories." That night, I picked up my journal from where it 18, dusty and 19. For the first time in months. I had 20 to write.

    Tonight, I was walking home from work. It was1. I passed a man2on a bench in the street. We looked at each other. As I passed, I half smiled and he just3me, sad like. It seemed he might be staying there for the4. He was wearing a thin sweater.

    As I walked away, I5the cold air on my skin and thought, "I wish I had a6to offer him." I have a bag from my grandmother. I thought maybe there is an extra blanket among her things.

    I looked in the bag but there was no blanket. There was my7winter hat though. I've had it for years. It would keep his head warm at least, I thought. I went back to the man and stood in8just a little away until he looked up.

    I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't want to assume he needed a hat or9even. Maybe he wasn't going to10there for the night. Maybe he was just sad and wanted11to be alone.

    We both stared at each other for a moment and then I12forward and asked simply, "Would you like a hat? '' He looked at me, then at the hat. I 13him to tell me to go away or something similar.14his face softened and he said. "Yes, thank you." "Okay, goodbye ", I said with a little15as he nodded kindly and half16.

    I am glad I had the hat to17. I think I will start keeping blankets. It's getting colder out there and more people are living in the18. As Mother Teresa said, "Let us touch the dying, the poor, the19and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be20or slow to do the humble (卑贱的) work."

Some dreams take longer to come true than others, but with the help of 21st-century social media and her great-grandson, at the age of 110, one British woman is 1 hers at long last.

At the end of World War I, Amy Hawkins was a 7-year-old child who loved nothing more than to 2. As a teen, Hawkins set her 3 on becoming an entertainer. Hawkins was on her way, touring the country with a dance troupe (歌舞团) — until her ambition was 4 by her mom, who didn't see it as a respectable 5 for a young lady.

All these years later, the 110-year-old lady lives at home in Monmouth, South Wales, surrounded by her loved ones. The four-generation family unit includes her granddaughter, Hannah Freeman, and Freeman's 14-year-old son, Sacha. Even though she's no longer doing it 6, Hawkins has never stopped singing.

"She's like a clock, once you wind her up she won't stop," Freeman said in an interview. "She just keeps asking, 'Would you 7 another one?'."

On Hawkins' 110th birthday, Sacha 8 his great-gran singing one of her favorite WWI tunes. When Freeman jokingly suggested Sacha post it to TikTok, neither of them could have 9 the overwhelmingly positive response it would receive, reaching 100,000 views and a large number of emotional praises in just days.

Some journeys take longer than others. Sometimes, we're detoured (绕路) along the way. Dreams can and do come true every day. While it's been a long time coming, Amy Hawkins is 10 a whole new generation of fans.