I had just picked up my new car, a very beautiful automobile if you're into cars. A few months later, I was involved in an1. That new and very beautiful car was destroyed.

    It was clearly not my2. The other guy was so busy on his cell phone that he went right through a red light and knocked into the passenger side of my car. It was even 3because my niece was asleep on the back seat and her father, my brother, was in the front passenger seat. He was not4, to say the least.

    The police arrived and began taking statements. I 5that my speed had been up to about 55kmph. “So you were going about 50kmph…” he said.

    “No, I said I was doing about 55kmph,” I said.

    “Right, so you were doing about 50kmph…” again he6.

    In a slightly 7tone because I felt I wasn't being heard, I said: “No! I was doing about 55kmph!”

    “OK, if that's 8you want it,” this time the officer simply replied.

    I didn't9 it at the time, but I was shooting myself in the foot. My insurance company paid me for the damages to my car. 10, I totally missed the boat on the other driver's insurance company.

    The city speed limit is 50km. I11 getting 50 percent less than I would have from the other guy's insurance company because I had12 I was doing 55km.

    It suddenly 13me that the traffic policeman had been trying to help me out. He hadn't14 about the 5kmph; he had known15about the insurance that I had not.

    I thought about what had16over and over again. I might have carried on insisting that I told the17, but I could at least have said “Thank you” to him 18 acting so rudely. After all, he had been trying to help me out.

    Sometimes the 19 thing to do is to let other people talk while you simply shut up and listen. Never forget— to20, you have to be able to listen.

    Anorexia nervosa (神经性厌食症) is an eating disorder that I struggled with for most of my middle school years and a part of my high school years.

    At Riverview,1was usually a nightmare for me. As I 2 the dining hall, all the eyes would be fixed upon my bony figure. I would take my place at a table full of friends and 3 to enjoy a "normal" lunch. The 4 was that I would not always eat lunch, and that greatly 5 my friends. They would watch to make sure that I was eating properly, almost 6 food into my mouth.

    And then, I transferred to Madison High School. I decided not to tell anyone at that school about my eating disorder since I had almost 7 by that time. Strangely, I stopped fearing lunch when I started at Madison. No one knew that I had an eating disorder,8 they did not care what I ate. This 9 a huge amount of stress from my life. It was still hard for me to eat in front of others, which is 10for an anorexic, but I was able to put some of my 11 aside.

    I was thankful for the students at Riverview, but they knew me only as an anorexic. My friends cared about my health, but they 12 to care about me as a person. Truthfully, all I wanted was for them to 13 me and not to fix on my eating disorder.

    The students at Madison took the time to know who I 14 was. They had no idea that I had been an anorexic, so that a particular label did not 15 their opinions of me. I was finally 16 for my talents and achievements, not my failures. I was honored as a good student. I was no longer afraid to show my true 17.

    My days as an anorexic taught me many lessons that I would never 18. They taught me about life and how to be a better friend. I learned about the joy of 19 tasks such as eating lunch. I appreciated the people who helped me to see that there is more 20 life than having an eating disorder.

    As my husband, Doug, stood on the busy New York city street to stop a taxi, I tried to protect my daughter from the cold December wind and rain. I put my head down to kiss her tiny face.

    1 and wet, my husband gave up his attempt to nag down a taxi. I knew the 2.Just after her first birthday, we were told our daughter Katie has a 3brain illness. Since that moment, Doung and I felt like runners in a marathon race where the finish line kept4 . We knew Katie was runn.ng out of 5. It had taken months before we finally had a name for the 6 ， but we were told only a few specialists in the world knew how to7 it. Now, as we finally found a brilliant doctor to 8 our girl, we were in a strange9 in the cold rain.

    Just at the moment, a middle-aged woman pulled over and said, “Pardon me? May I offer you a(n)10?”

    Before we could say anything, she continued, “It's really no11for me. Just get in.”

    It was then that I noticed her thick Irish accent, which 12me up like hot soup. We simply said, “Thanks! Roosevelt Hospital, please,” as we got in her car for the ride.

    “Are you going13the baby?” she asked us.

    I nodded my head, holding back my 14.

    At the hospital, we 15her a dozen times for the ride. As the woman hugged me, I16her face was wet with tears. She promised to17for us before she left.

    After three more visits to New York and two more 18surgeries (手术)，Katie is cured. But the 19 of the Irish Angel still rang as a constant reminder of a tiny ray of light that appeared in our20 days.

    It started four years ago. My wife would see a 1 man near where she worked. It was the week before Christmas and she said she wanted to purchase a new coat for him because his coat was 2. We don't have a lot of 3. We are really a step away from being homeless in rags most months but we try to 4 when we can.

    We talked and found a way to get some money together to 5 him a coat. I 6 that since we were giving a coat to him, we should look at what else he might 7. We decided to fill a 8 with some useful 9 things—a toothbrush, soap, clothes, a hat, gloves and some food. A small gift and Christmas card was put in it as well.

    We haven't had money to exchange 10 for birthdays or Christmas for many years, too. It feels wonderful to have someone 11 you at Christmas but I've always been a little 12 when friends ask "What did you get for Christmas?" It always makes my wife feel bad that she can't 13 to give me anything and I feel the same. So I would 14 and say she bought me this thing or that. But that year we could say we 15 something to others instead and that's 16 what happened.

    People asked and we said what we did. They also wanted to help the following 17 and we made ten more backpacks the following Christmas, and this year we really 18 the gifts.

    I still can't afford to buy my wife some gifts to 19 on Christmas day, but the 20 we feel makes up for it ten times!

    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.