On his 67th birthday, Dad had a heart attack. He was1he survived. But something 2him had died. His passion for life was gone. He refused the doctor's3 and his bitter attitude made every visitor 4 Dad was left alone.

    I asked Dad to come and live on our small farm5the fresh air would do him good. A week later, I 6the invitation. He criticized everything here. Frustrated, I decided something had to be done.

    One day I read an article saying several depressed patients' attitudes had 7dramatically (显著地)when given dogs. That afternoon I drove to the animal shelter, where a pointer's eyes caught my attention. They watched me8.

    A staff member said: “He's been here for two weeks with nothing heard. His time is 9tomorrow.”

    I turned to the man in horror. “You mean to 10him?”

    “Madam, he said coldly. “We don't have 11for every unclaimed dog. The pointer's calm brown eyes12my decision. “I'll take him, ”I said.

    On arriving home, I took the dog to Dad's room. “Look what I got you! ”I said 13

    Dad frowned and murmured. “I don't want it”. Then, suddenly, the pointer 14from my grasp. He sat down in front of Dad.

    Dad's anger 15and soon he was hugging the animal.

    It was the beginning of a16Dad named the pointer Cheyenne. Together they spent long hours walking down country roads and relaxing on the banks of streams.

    Dad's 17faded, and he and Cheyenne befriended each other. Then, one night two years later, Cheyenne rushed into my bedroom as if telling something. Running into Dad's room, I found he had18.

    Two days later, my grief 19when I discovered Cheyenne lying dead beside Dad's bed. While burying him near their favorite stream, I silently 20the dog for restoring Dad's peace of mind.

    My husband, Tom, has always been good with animals, but I was still amazed when he befriended a female grouse (松鸡). It's 1 for a grouse to have any contact (接触) with people. In fact, they're hard to spot, 2 they usually fly off when they hear humans approaching.

    This grouse came into our lives in 3.Tom was working out in the field when he 4her walking around at the edge of the field. She was 5 unafraid and seemed to be6about what he was doing.

    Tom saw the 7 bird several times, and she got more comfortable around him. We quickly grew 8 of the bird and decided to call her Mildred.

    One day, as Tom was working, Mildred came within a few feet of him to watch. Tom 9he didn't see her and kept working to see what she would do next.

    Apparently, she didn't like to be 10 . She'd run up and peck (啄) at Tom's hands, then11 off to see what he would do. This went on for about 20 minutes, until Mildred became tired of the 12 and left.

    As spring went and summer came, Mildred started to 13 more and more often. 14Mildred felt comfortable enough to jump up on Tom's leg and stay long enough for me to get a 15 of the two of them together. This friendly grouse soon felt 16 not just with our family, but with anybody who walked or drove by.

    When hunting season opened, we put a 17 at the end of our driveway asking 18not to shoot our pet grouse. My father, who lived down the road, 19warned people not to shoot her. 20, hunters would stop and take pictures, because they had never seen anything like her.

    Everyone should go to his or her 50th high school reunion. There was a time I thought I'd never go even if the opportunity 1. But now I feel 2for people who don't go.

    I went to the 3of my high school on a Saturday evening, and I am glad I did. It was a gift to recognize some4classmates right away — and to be recognized. 5, we had name tags and our 6photos on our clothing to help identify us. I recognized one woman immediately!

    The most memorable and moving experience of the night was 7by a schoolmate and neighbor to whom I was once close. Unfortunately, we had a falling out in the high school. I never saw her after 8, but this time, I saw her name on a place setting. At first, I feared that I would 9her. But my better self won over, and I 10 her out. I kept looking until I got a(n) 11on my shoulder. There she was 12. We hugged as if nothing had ever 13and exchanged affectionate words. When the party 14, my old-new friend walked towards me, 15me again and wished me well. I returned her good wishes. All the bad 16melted into thin air.

    I am grateful I had this 17to reunite with old classmates. After all, we are almost 18the final lap of our lifelong journeys. Some classmates had already left this 19, and their names were deleted from the list. Sometimes we have to walk back into the past because time does heal old wounds. We're not the 20people. We are better people.

    Several weeks ago, our headmaster, Mr. Gaudi, told us that our school had been chosen to compete on Smart Aleck—a game show which my best friend Carla and I both love. Carla has a good imagination, 1 I know a lot of history. So we thought we'd be good 2 for the team.

    A few days later, Mr. Gaudi held a meeting with everyone interested in the 3 . He told us that Smart Aleck uses a five member team. He also said that three more people would be needed as backup (替补). 4, four times that many students were at the meeting. So Mr. Gaudi said we would have a 5 among all the students present and the top 6 scorers would become the team and the backup. Everybody agreed that this was a 7 way to decide.

    Yesterday, all of the hopefuls went to the dining hall after school. We would have to 8 the starting line-up（阵容）. Mr. Gaudi acted as the 9. After a couple of hours, all the 10on the team were set except one. Carla and I 11 for that last position. We had to hold a one-on-one competition 12 the two of us. The winner would be on the team and the loser would be the 13.

    Midway through our two-person competition, I was starting to pull ahead. 14 I saw the look on Carla's face. I waited for a second and knew what I had to do. As much as I wanted to be on Smart Aleck, Carla wanted 15 even more. So, starting with my next question, I held back and let Carla 16, just by a little bit. Her expression as she 17 she would be on the show made up for my not being on the team. And since I will go as backup, I'll still have the 18 of seeing the show up close.

    Was I 19 by not trying as hard as I could? I don't think so. No one noticed, and Carla and I didn't 20 it. It won't hurt the team because Carla will be a very good competitor on the real show. I think that making my best friend happy was the right thing to do.

    Skydiving isn't an activity for the faint of heart, but when you do it at 101 years old, you're pretty much a superhuman. On May 13, Verdun Hayes became the 1person in the world to complete a 15,000-foot tandern jump (双人伞), 2 the Guinness World Records he once set up.

    Verdun Hayes wasn't 3. He finished the jump with eight family members and two close 4 at Dunkeswell Airport in England. As they5to make the jump, the entire family looked nervous, but6as well. Hayes' grandson–in–law Ian Honnor, the organizer of the family's jump, told TODAY, "He was probably the calmest one on the 7. He had no fear and just loved it. He just wanted everyone to8it and be healthy." Honnor, who helped 9the outing, said this wasn't Hayes' first jump! "When he was more than ninety years old, his family kept telling him he wasn't 10 to do the jump. However, he didn't give up his 11. At the age of 100, he 12realized his ambition and became the first man of such an advanced age to 13a tandem skydive."

    This time he decided to shoot for the world record. "Because it's such a big14, it was decided that as many people in the family as we could possibly get were going to go15him," Honnor said. "He had four generations(世代) of his family in the 16at the same time—they ranged from age 16 to 101." The family held a big party to 17his achievement.

    Hayes even had some18for those people hoping to 19the same thing at his age. "Just keep your mind20occupied by positive thought and keep your body as fit as you possibly can," said Hayes. "Those are the two great things."

It was a long time since I had seen my parents last time. Last Saturday I drove a long way to visit them, 1neither of them was at home. So I waited patiently at their home 2their return. Not seeing them made me really3.

As I was walking around their bedroom, I 4 little reminders of them. Some

Christmas gifts were still 5in boxes. There were 6on the wall, which I guess must have a 7 meaning to them. What 8 was seeing my dad's emblems (徽章) from his military service of our country when he was young. My father never 9to us about the Korean Wars. As I looked at those emblems hanging 10 with all the photos that he treasures, I 11 that this was an important part of his life, but I never spent 12in talking with him about them. The photos of my mom with her close 13made me realize her life before she was my mom. I had been so 14running my business to raise my own family that I 15the chance to know about their past and experience.

We sometimes don't realize something is 16for us until we have lost it, so it's not too late for us to talk to our parents about their past. I am writing my story to 17 everyone who is fortunate to still have their parents 18to invest some time to learn about them. I am grateful to have 19of my parents. So I still have time to talk with them. I hope that readers will 20from my story and find the time to talk about those things in their life that mean so much to their parents.